Trivial
by Plateplateplate
Summary: "Unbalanced" is Gaia's favorite word in the dictionary. Daichi(?) is her chosen. How will the supernatural world fare in the presence of the Gamer? (Undergoing revisions)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

There was once a goddess by the name of Morrighan. Her domains were that of War, Vengeance, and Crows, and was also a patron goddess of the Tuatha de Dananns, a clan of humans descended from the Partholon, another human clan. In her adolescence, she discovered a hole in the skies between Erinn, the land of paradise, and the city of Falias, home to the gods. Tapping into her divine powers she expanded this hole and found there was more beyond it. Resting in what could only be described as a 'kaleidoscopic gap' was a white bridge that led beyond the stars. Ignoring the counsel of her one-time friend Cichol—god of the Fomorians—Morrighan kept this bridge open to Erinn and later named it the _Soul Stream_ once she had discovered its function.

The function of the Soul Stream was simple, it occasionally touched worlds across the gap in search of souls free of their bodies but have yet to be claimed by the local Aspect of Death. Once it found said souls, the Soul Stream would pull them towards itself and then funnel them in the direction of Erinn proper, where they could once again enjoy life. This race of souls pulled from other worlds came to be called Milletians—people descended from the stars—and they were a special breed. For one, their bodies were temporary shells that could be reshaped to their desires. If they died, their souls would return to the Soul Stream, allowing them to recreate their bodies, making them immortal in a sense. They also had a strange ability to perceive time at a faster rate, which turned them into quick learners.

Milletians were a rare occurrence in Erinn, only coming into prominence sometime after several catastrophic conflicts between the Fomor and the Tuatha de Danann forced Morrighan to descend unto the continent of Uladh. There she sacrificed the remnants of her strength to seal away the Fomorians and stop them from invading Erinn—all at the cost of being imprisoned in stone. The goddess was not passive during her internment. Using trickles of divinity available to her, she visited the dreams of warriors, hoping to convince them to find her in the land of Tir Na Nog—an apparent paradise.

She found a semblance of hope in a young warrior named Ruairi. Together with a mage named Tarlach and an archer named Mari, they ventured deep into the dungeons of Uladh, seeking a way into Tir Na Nog. Though they fought hard they eventually were felled by Cichol's forces. Ruairi was spirited away by the Dark Lord Morgant, Tarlach lost his magic and was forced to hide away in Sidhe Sneachta, living half of his life as a bear due to a curse. Then there was Mari, the young girl who wanted to become more. Of the three she was the only one to die due to wounds, in spite of this, her story did not end at the hands of the Fomor.

Using an artifact known as Lia Fail, Morrighan took Mari's soul and merged it with a goddess whose domain was that of Gates. The reborn Mari, renamed Nao, was made guardian of the Soul Stream and was given the duty of guiding unclaimed souls to Erinn in large numbers. If the Tuatha de Dananns could not save their goddess, then it would be the Milletians to do so.

Four years had passed since Nao's rebirth and in that time hundreds of Milletians came to be on Erinn's soul. However, none of them had enough potential to save Morrighan. Nao refused to give in to despair and continued to search for the right person. And then she did. She found three across three separate worlds.

The first was a young woman known as Lisa Wolf. An explorer that sailed across the stars in her land. Lisa was one of many who braved the abyss of space in order to search for new habitable lands. She catalogued hundreds of worlds before her untimely demise when her ship failed to decelerate during re-entry. Nonetheless she was remembered as one of the greatest pioneers of her time.

The second was a soldier by the name of Charles Wilken. He fought for the freedom of his people in a war-torn planet, one bullet at a time. Over a twenty-yearlong campaign he killed more than any other and was feared by the enemy as a demon incarnate. Charles' body eventually gave in to the damage it accumulated over the years and was eventually caught and beheaded in public.

The third was far more ordinary than the first two, but his soul shined just as brightly. He was a teenaged orphan named Daichi Takahashi. He lived in a world filled to the brim with supernatural beings and yet he, and most of the human population, remained ignorant of that fact. Daichi suffered from abject isolation and abuse from his peers. Feeling he had no escape, Daichi took his own life by hanging himself.

Three disparate souls who were all freed from their bodies at exactly the same time. It was unusual for Nao, but she guided them into Erinn's Soul Stream regardless. Taking a soul from one world into another, even with the assistance of the Soul Stream itself, was incredibly taxing on the soul. On occasion the souls that Nao guided to the Soul Stream would shatter, the fragments of potential fading into nothingness with no way of restoring them. Unfortunately for the young goddess, the three souls _did_ shatter. Then, before she could anguish over the shards of what could have been, something… unheard of occurred.

The shards coalesced into _one_.

A soul unlike any other, born from the sacrifice of three. And born from this very unique soul was a very special Milletian.

This Milletian was the one who went on to save the goddess Morrighan, freeing her from her stone prison.

This Milletian went on to become a true Paladin, entering a contract with a noble spirit to enforce justice in the name of Morrighan.

This Milletian, slighted by Morrighan's lies in a confrontation between her and the Fomorian King Cichol, walked away from the Paladin's path and embraced the Dark Knight's corruption to find one's own justice.

This Milletian sailed across the seas to the continent of Iria, learning about the Elves, Giants, and the war between them.

This Milletian traveled to Zardine, a volcanic hell-spot in the northern reaches of Iria, to slay a Dragon who rebelled against its rightful imprisonment.

This Milletian, upon returning to Uladh, learned about the art of Alchemy, the resurgence of the Fomorians in the absence of their king, and the peculiar Shadow Realm.

This Milletian ascended as a demigod through the sacrifice of Elatha, the Shadow Walker and the son of Neamhain, goddess of Light.

This Milletian inherited the Caliburn, the artifact used by the creator god Aton Cimeni to create Erinn.

This Milletian, in a reluctant alliance with Morrighan, fought off the revived Nuadha Airgetlam, King of the Gods.

This Milletian learned of the closed off realm of Avon and encountered the very first Milletian to have ever existed.

This Milletian became embroiled in a war between the Tuatha de Dananns and an army of undead, the conclusion of which saw the retreat of the gods from Erinn.

This Milletian suffered under the corruption of the Soul Stream as the result of a plot by an older Tarlach and Ruairi to rid Erinn of the gods and the Soul Stream, forever. Ultimately, their plotting resulted in the revival of Macha, Goddess of War and Destruction.

In the past Macha, had fallen in love with a mortal man and had given up her divinity to be with him. However, she was betrayed when the man married another woman. In her sorrows, she denounced the worth of mortal love and before drowning herself in a lake vowed that should she ever return, she would destroy the entirety of Erinn. And shortly after her resurrection, she did exactly that. Only to be stopped by the Milletian at every turn.

The two divines tirelessly fought above the skies of Erinn, the world below shuddering against the excess of their blows. Their duel continued for days, eventually ending where it began: Renes Volcano off the coast of Zardine. Macha was decapitated by Caliburn's blade, but not before she drove a fist concentrated with a destructive curse into the Milletian's heart.

Unlike Macha, the Milletian would not be truly claimed by death. It needs to be said, though, that slowly dying to a particularly nasty curse while paralyzed in the remnants of an active volcano _was not_ a very great way to die.

 _"A long time ago, I thought that being reborn into another world that I thought was just a_ game _while having two other people occupy my mind was the craziest thing of my life. Several decades later, here we are, slowly dissolving into ash because we had to defend the world against a crazy goddess hellbent on killing us and then the world! How did we ever get involved in this mess?"_

 _"We uh… What was it again… Had a dream about a different goddess who asked us to save her and then things escalated."_

 _"Daichi."_

 _"Yes?"_

 _"It was a rhetorical question."_

 _"And I gave a rhetorical answer."_

 _"Boys, boys! Don't even_ start _arguing. It's not making this 'dissolving' business any more pleasant."_

 _"Lysanna is right, but still, isn't it crazy how we're still coherent without a heart? How does that even make sense?"_

 _"About as much as everything else, really. And I'm of the opinion that the more you lose major organs, the more you just adapt to it. It's what? The_ sixth _time we've been without a heart before we died? Could be worse."_

 _"Yeah. Like getting decapitated or something."_

 _"Really Daichi? It's way too soon to be making any beheading jokes."_

 _"Ignore Charles, Daichi! I need some more humor to deal with all this freakin' pain!"_

 _"That's all I got. Sorry."_

 _"Ugh… The worst part about this curse is that it's keeping us alive as it works its way through our body. Any other time and we'd already be dead! Okay, okay. I have an idea. You know how you guys take control over the Doppelgangers I make?"_

 _"Yep."_

 _"Mhm… Oh! I know what you want to do."_

 _"Great, then you get to do the honors, Charles… Do you have control of the Doppelganger?"_

 _"Sure do… Gotta say, we do_ not _look good right now."_

 _"Get on with it man!"_

 _"Right, on three then. Three, two, one—!"_

* * *

 **A/N: Next update is whenever. And probably in smaller chunks because that's _less_ intimidating. Somehow. Old chapters before rewrite (not like there's that many...) will be relabeled as EXTRA, for comparison purposes and what not.**

 **This story was always meant to be a Mabinogi/HS DxD crossover, but I'm about as good as planning as a wheel of cheese.**


	2. EXTRA: Old Chapter 1

**EXTRA: Old Chapter 1**

 **Part 1.**

Imagine being me. You can't. Instead, imagine being you and then being dead. At this point I'd assume that some of you will hit a snag. After all, how can one know what being dead is like without experiencing it first? Saying otherwise would be the height of pretentiousness. But for those that have trouble imagining being dead, I have good news: there _is_ an afterlife! Kind of. Sort of.

For me, the afterlife was a white void, if that makes sense. Aside from that void, I was there, floating about with a distinct lack of a body. As it turns out, at least for me anyway, who you were physically in the past doesn't carry over into the afterlife. Kind of makes sense if you think about it. If you're going to be reincarnated—also a thing, sort of—then bodily holdovers shouldn't be carried over. Only the essence of _you_ , will.

Now.

Imagine being you in this limbo and waiting for an eternity for something to happen. Really maddening. No concept of time exists in that place, but both you and I have that concept in ourselves. It's a quintessential part of living as a human—and if you're not a human, then as a person I suppose—so knowing of time in a place where time doesn't exist screws with the mind. It certainly screwed with mine.

And then, in a moment that I'd call the "Big Bang of the Soul", I was metaphorically—or is that literally— _sucked_ out of the void and into somewhere else. Specifically, into somebody's er, well, body. Reincarnation, kind of. Actually, transmigration is more appropriate for my situation. In any case, it's another shot at life—no complaints there—but it comes with its own problems. Namely, being somebody else entirely. And having to deal with… What was left behind.

Takahashi Daichi (高橋 大地). Orphan. Independent. A horrible cook.

…A 2nd year high school student of Kuoh Academy.

Kuoh Academy! Seriously. I'm in _that_ —or rather, _this_ —dimension! A part of me is really excited to be here. I mean, magic is _real_. Angels, fallen angels, devils, gods, and youkai—they are all real. More than that, Kuoh is a town inexplicably full of beautiful ladies! More _importantly_ Daichi, and thus me too, is a student of Kuoh Academy, one of the places to be in this world to find the most beautiful women around! …And let's stop the shallow thinking right there.

Regardless of the possibilities that are now open to me, that doesn't do away with the fact that the world of High School DxD is dangerous. Hidden in the mundane are supernatural creatures more than capable of enjoying me as a snack. A rather big snack, that is. Well, it's not concern at the moment and if my knowledge of canon is correct then I can rely on the fact that Sona Sitri does whatever she can to ensure that the normal are not wrapped up in supernatural conflicts. A darling, that Sona.

Seeing this whole transmigration business to live anew for both myself and Daichi, I decided to clean up the mess I woke up in. Starting with the itchy thing around my neck and the smelly puddle I was lying on. It took well over fifteen minutes fumbling around the Spartan apartment hunting down cleaning supplies to deal with the mess that clung to the wooden floor; the cleaning itself took about half an hour. The hole in the ceiling that Daichi left behind, I decided, would have to be dealt with later. My transmigration took place in the dead of night, and even if stores were open I was more concerned with having a shower.

One hot shower later, which revealed a lot of welts and bruises aside from the one around my neck, I was met with a pleasant surprise shortly after toweling dry.

 **Quest Alert – Awakening (Complete)!  
Despite the condition you've woken up in post transmigration, you've soldiered on with conviction and managed to relax yourself to a state of relative normalcy. Now it is up to you to live a new life under the guise of Daichi Takahashi in a world that is both familiar and strange.**

 **Reward: +5000 EXP, Gamer Functions Unlocked!**

 **You have leveled up! (x6)**

Blue screens of all sorts popped up in my field of vision basically telling me that, yes, I did somehow awaken the powers of the Gamer while also being transmigrated to the world of High School DxD in a disadvantaged body. It's like the powers up high decided to grab my soul from the void, pile up some clichés, and get a kick out of it in the process. That's not a complaint by the way. Now then, let's see what there is to my—blessed be Gaia—copy of this amazing ability!

 **Part 2.**

"Status," I intoned with the gravitas of a black hole. No voice cracking happened. Nope.

 **Name: Daichi Takahashi  
Title: N/A  
Job: The Gamer  
Level 6 (0/1800)  
HP: 200 (Regen: 1/s) | MP: 289 (Regen: 4.5/s) | SP: 204 (Regen: 2/s)  
STR: 8 | VIT: 7 | DEX: 5  
INT:20 | WIS: 15 | WIL: 5  
**

 **Stat Points: 30**

I closed the window with the stroke of a neuron or two and then employed the rest to go over the rest of what I had learned. At around 1 AM I finally managed to parse everything about my Gamer ability currently available to me. And there's quite a bit to go over as well. First off, functions. [Status], [Inventory], [Options], [Help], [Journal], and [Skills] are the primary calls I can make to access portions of my ability. No [Map] though, apparently not leveled enough to access it. [Status] provides an at-a-glance look at my current standing and any other information relevant to my person sorted in convenient tabs. [Help] was rather useful in telling me what each stat does.

HP, MP, and SP are Health, Mana, and Stamina Points respectively. These three can be collectively described as resource points.

STR increases SP and Physical Attack. VIT increases HP and Physical Defense.

INT increases MP, Magical Attack, and the ability to retain information. WIS increases MP regen, Magical Defense, and the ability to make better decisions.

DEX is a bit of a weird one. It apparently increases the dexterity of both the body _and_ the mind, which would allow me to not only move faster and accurately, but think in the same way as well.

Then the final stat WIL, or Willpower. It increases SP regen and HP regen, but also works as some kind of anti-luck stat. If high luck stacked probability so that fate constantly worked in your favor, then high willpower made fate work in your favor by sheer force of will.

According to the [Help] function, a stat of 10 is considered to be statistically average. Also according to [Help], my version of the Gamer doesn't reward stat gains based on repetitive actions or clever decisions. A bit of a bummer, but nothing that I can't work around.

[Inventory] opens up an interface that allows me to interact with the Gamer's hammerspace. I was given a 10-by-10 grid with each space having an unknown capacity. Unfortunately, the [Help] function gave no hints in that regard, so some testing will be needed.

[Options] is a function that makes one think of modifying gameplay—and it _does_ do that—but this function does so in different ways. Unlike some stories I've read that toyed around with the Gamer ability, save scumming is not a thing here. Neither is changing difficulty; there's only one: real life. What [Options] does provide though, among other things, is the ability to migrate things from games I've played in my past life and have had the most impact on me. Sounds broken, is broken—but more on that later.

The [Help] function… Is something like a search engine. Ask a question pointed towards it and you may get the answer you're looking for. Apparently this world's Gaia—or is it the Gaia of my previous world, or _both_ —likes to be cooperative… And chatty.

[Journal] is where I can view my quests past and present as well as view observation entries. Pretty useful.

Lastly, the bread and butter of the Gamer, [Skills]! Within the window there was only one tab labeled "Common" which contained three skills: Gamer's Mind, Gamer's Body, and Observe. The three core skills to any Gamer story, and now, my life.

 **Gamer's Mind/Passive/Lv. MAX/No Cost  
Allows the user to process information calmly and logically. Can forcefully revert harmful states of mind. Confers immunity to psychological damage and mental status effects.**

 **Gamer's Body/Passive/Lv. MAX/No Cost  
Grant's the user a body akin to that of a video game character. Completely nullifies the severance of body parts, critical hits, and normalizes damage as HP lost. Sleeping will restore all point resources and remove temporary status effects.**

 **Observe/Active/Lv. MAX/No Cost  
Channeling power through the eyes allows the user to obtain information about the world and everything in it. This ability can be nullified by wards and people stronger than the user by 20 levels. **

The Gamer ability has always been such a broken thing, the fact that my version doesn't require me to level up my own Observe? Even more so. However, the skill itself acts like an overeager muscle. For example, I used Observe on Daichi's bed and was bombarded with the composition, entire history, and tons of tangential information related to the bed. Without Gamer's Mind working its wonderful Gaian magic, I might have passed out from the migraine. It'll take some time to only Observe what I _want_ to see, rather than everything that _can_ be seen.

Having only three skills seems a touch empty, right? Of course, the Gamer ability allows for me to create new skills by repeatedly doing stuff, but there is a shortcut! In [Options] is a wonderful item called System Adaptation. By using it, I am allowed to bring certain things from games that I've played in the past. I can choose up to three games and am limited to one aspect of each game to migrate to my Gamer ability. And once one aspect is chosen for one game, that same aspect can't be used from another game. The migration isn't exactly 1:1, for example, if I brought in skills from another game, I won't get any of the stats they provide—as that would just be too easy—but I still obtain mastery, knowledge, and any damage modifiers. And just having those at the cost of stats is alright to me.

Even though I have this vaunted ability, I was never much of a gamer in my past life. Meaning to say, I never really played a wide number of titles and instead mostly devoted myself to a couple of MMOs that I had taken to in my hormonal years. Like Mabinogi, the _Fantasy Life_. An MMO from the early half of the 2000's, it was never graphically impressive, but had that anime-esque charm to it. Character building in that game was rather free, as you could build your character in anyway as you pleased so long as you had Ability Points (AP) to spare. As well as plenty of time to grind.

For myself, I gradually built my character into that of a Master Puppetmancer, which was a hidden talent title that one could get by becoming a master in two other talents: Puppetry and Transmutation. These weren't the only talents that my character ended up mastering, but my favorites. There were a couple of talents that I never bothered with, such as Magic and Dual Guns. Magic was a very heavy AP sink, and the Gunslinger skill set required a lot of grinding… So I ended up giving up on those.

Mabinogi had its flaws, but it was a game I constantly game back to until the end of my previous life. And in this life, it was the first game that I would use System Adaptation on. As I expressed my intent, I was once again flooded with screens in my vision and before I could even react, I immediately blacked out. For the second time today, Daichi's body met the floor.

 **System Adaptation**

 **Slot 1: Mabinogi/Aspect: Skills  
Slot 2: Empty/Aspect: None  
Slot 3: Empty/Aspect: None**

 **Adaptation – Skill: Alchemy Mastery  
Parsing Soul Memory…  
Interpreting…  
Adapting to System…  
Downloading information through Gaia…  
Progress… 35%**

 **Adaptation – Skill: Pierrot Marionette  
Parsing Soul Memory…  
Interpreting…  
Adapting to System…  
Downloading information through Gaia…  
Progress… 26%**

 **Adaptation – Skill: Egg Gathering  
Parsing Soul Memory…  
Interpreting…  
Adapting to System…  
Downloading information through Gaia…  
Progress… 100%**

 **…**

 **…**

 **…**

 **Part 3.**

 **You are somewhat rested. Resources fully restored. Wounds are recovered.**

Pain. Pain was an understatement to describe what I was feeling when I finally woke up, yet at the same time, it was the perfect word. Remnants of Daichi's psyche aside, which was more visceral than anything else, there was also the deluge of information that Gaia crammed into me and made whole with my person. It was… Unpleasant, but seeing all of the Rank 1 skills—which was equivalent to the Gamer's Lv. MAX, apparently—in my [Skills] window sorted into Alchemy, Puppetry, Combat, Life, Music, Ninja, Fighter, and Hidden made it all worth it. These tabs were prefixed with 'Erinn', reminding me where the skills originated from. I was, however, curious as to why so many skills were transferred and were at their maximum rank.

"Gaia," I voiced aloud, wincing from the very act of talking, "I was really expecting only to get the Alchemy and Puppetry skills from my character… How did I get everything else I had worked on, and at max rank to boot?"

 **Good Morning, my chosen!  
There's a reason for everything.  
But I don't feel like telling you right now!  
However.  
I fully expect my chosen to exercise these gifts with utmost responsibility and caution.  
With utmost responsibility and caution!**

I sighed at the [Help] window that appeared in my vision. It was not an ideal answer—and was it really necessary to repeat that last bit—but at least she outright stated that there _was_ a reason for it. And I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I just rolled with it. She was right about caution, however. Having the Alchemy skillset already maxed out at my level was incredibly dangerous. Those skills had no stat dependence whatsoever and the damage modifiers were already enough to kill the average human. As an example, these were the details for one of my favorites, Water Cannon:

 **Water Cannon/Active/Rank 1/5 SP + 1 Water Crystal per Charge  
Unleashes a powerful stream of condensed water released from a crystal. Damage is distance dependent. +120~140 Water Damage per charge + 30% of MP. 120m effective range.  
Additional Effects: Capable of knockback. Multiplier at 5 charges is changed from 5 to 6.5.  
Elemental Wave Effect: Quadruples cannon blast, +Possible freezing effect.**

Ridiculous. And a very good reason to exercise caution at this point in time!

Since I had nothing else to ask Gaia, I spent a couple of hours lying on the much cleaner floor. I was still wracked with pain, and when the day passed into evening, I was feeling much better. On the other hand, this meant that I missed a second day of school, an action that would no doubt get the attention of both the student body and the student council. Would either miss me, I mean, Daichi? No, probably not. _Definitely_ not.

Before the transmigration, Daichi was just a normal person starved of kindness. His academic record prior to two days ago was excellent, but it's not like he had any talents worthy of catching Sona Sitri's attention. No, that honor went to his classmate and class president, Reya Kusaka. But Daichi never blamed Reya—soft, polite, beautiful Reya—in fact he was at his happiest when he found out two weeks ago that he'd be classmates with her again. She was the flower in a desert full of _selfish, arrogant, despicable, hypocritical, traitorous BASTARDS_ …!

I felt tears well in my eyes, eyes that didn't seem to be fully under my control. Even if I was largely unaffected by Daichi's memories—thanks to Gamer's Mind—his, our, my body wasn't. I refused to allow myself to be consumed by the remnants of Daichi's psyche. With some struggling, I forced back _those_ memories to the back of my mind.

With that done, I thought canon. Canon was a decent measuring stick that I could use to plan my actions, but canon was a written work. And it would have been impossible for canon to cover the endless subtleties of real life that could complicate the progression of events as they should be. Which was what I was going to have to deal with. Great.

It was still early in the academic year, and going on what Daichi knew about Kuoh Academy's rumor mill, Issei was still the unrepentant pervert that he was. How he, Matsuda, and Motohama haven't been arrested yet in this reality boggled my mind. Anyway, there were no rumors regarding Issei's dubious entry into the Occult Research Club, so there was anywhere from a couple of days to weeks before the events of Volume 1 and 2 kicked off. That's at least if I didn't do anything to upset canon, though I'm sure I would eventually.

Another thing to consider was who I was going to associate myself with in the long run. Skills are a matter of resource, application, and time, which would eventually allow me to mimic the powers of any supernatural faction out there. Paired with the Mabinogi skill Transformation Mastery, I can also mimic their forms once I commit them to memory. The idea of changing my body was appealing, but at the same time I was uncomfortable with the idea. There's always the possibility that any transformation I make would be undone at a later point in time. Not wanting to have to explain my way out of a situation like that, I decided that I'd rather work on my aesthetics naturally—or as natural as I can get.

Still, Kuoh was going to be the center of activity for the Abrahamic factions. My best bet would be to somehow get into an alliance with either Rias Gremory or Sona Sitri. I highly doubt that Gaia or my Gamer ability would allow me to be transformed by an Evil Piece, but at the very least an alliance seems doable. And on that note, Sona Sitri would be—at least in my opinion—the better person to be allied to. Rias is… She's well-meaning but ineffective. When you think about how she absolutely failed to handle her Peerage's issues until Issei became the heart of the group, ineffective was the least offensive term I could think of. Sona, possible control issues aside, knows how to handle her people effectively, has a Peerage free of explosive elements, and has applied her managerial talents well beyond her inner circle. She's also my type, which was the most important reason.

Grigori, ignoring the splinter group under Kokabiel, was also attractive. From what I remember, Azazel and his crows were the most inclined to progress technologically alongside humankind. The Governor-General himself was the reason why artificial Sacred Gears were a thing. If I joined them, somehow or another, I could potentially have access to all sorts of skills and recipes in the vein of self-modification and Sacred Gear creation.

As for Heaven… I was confident that I wouldn't get along with them, no matter how personable angels were. They were missing their central pillar and clung to a failing system. They relied on faith more than the other two factions, but how true that faith is was questionable. Perhaps I was being a bit biased—having been apathetic to religion—as they do get better post-peace treaty.

If I were more savvy and manipulative, I could try to strike an alliance with all three factions at once. Since I'm neither incredibly savvy or manipulative, if I figured that trying to do so would end up badly for me. So it was a "No" to that plan.

The worst bet I could go with, was to throw canon to the wind and ally myself with an entirely different faction. As amusing as it would be to hang ten with Zeus and Poseidon or try to get into Yasaka's pants, they aren't central to events—Yasaka was, if only temporarily. Going with this option would me throwing myself into the unknown. And when I thought about it, I wasn't willing to go along with this option any further than it being just an idea.

Sona. It took a bit of time, but I ended up choosing to throw my lot with Sona and her Peerage. If I could get in with her, then school would no longer be a cage, but a haven instead. Of course, I didn't plan on just relying on Sona's clout to handle my problems there. And the advantages didn't just end there either. Heh.

With my short term goals in sight, I decided to answer the calls my stomach was making and fetch some food. It was also a perfect opportunity to test out two of my imported skills from Mabinogi—Cooking and Tasting.

 **Cooking/Passive-Active/Rank 1/Rarity Dependent  
You can cook with various food ingredients. Which means not starving. Exquisite base quality. Rarity and quality of ingredients used affects success rate.**

 **Tasting/Passive/Rank 1/No Cost  
You can't just cook something without tasting it! How else would your dishes improve otherwise? 100% chance of increasing quality stage by 1, 15% chance of increasing quality stage by 2.**

 **Part 4.**

 **Cooking Production Success!  
You have made Godly Common Rice Balls (x3)!  
Restores 150 HP, SP per serving.**

"Godly Common Rice Balls…" I was dumbfounded by what I made. Were the words "Common" and "Godly" allowed to exist in the same sentence together like that? The short answer was: Yes, they were.

The long answer had to do with my ingredients and my wonderfully broken skills. The overall rarity of a finished product, according to [Help], was dependent on the average rarity of the ingredients I used. Store-bought rice, salt, and nori were all common ingredients, and thus my rice balls were also of the common variety. Quality is a different story. From worst to best the quality ranks are: Broken, Damaged, Poor, Normal, Good, Fine, Excellent, Exquisite, Divine, and Godly. The quality of ingredients generally increased production success rate, whereas the quality of the finished product relied on your skill rank or level. And so it was by happenstance that I managed to make Godly-quality rice balls.

It was a bit of a humbling experienced when Gaia informed me that the crafting skills she provides can produce things at a base Godly quality once maxed out, and that by importing skills, I've locked myself out of those Gaian counterpart skills. I didn't know this before I imported those Mabinogi skills, but even after I learned about it, I had no regrets. It's kind of difficult for me to feel bad over taking a shortcut.

As for the rice balls themselves…

"…Is it okay to faint? It's okay right? This flavor can't be real!" Let it be known that Gamer's Mind didn't work when I ate a rice ball. Minor breakdowns due to flavor-induced orgasms was considered as a _good_ thing and so the skill had nothing to act on. If this was how I was going to react every time I ate something of Godly quality, I couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if my dishes were eaten by somebody else. Dangerous, this was dangerous! And I wanted to put a ban on it, but Gaia had other ideas.

 **Quest Alert – Through the Stomach (0/3)  
The ever magnificent lady of earth is disappointed with her chosen's attempts to put a ban on his wonderful cooking. Make amends with Gaia by using your cooking to subvert 3 individuals to your cause.**

 **Limitation: Dishes given must be of Godly quality.**

 **Reward: +10000 EXP, Allies, ?**

 **Failure: Gaia will be really, REALLY upset with you.**

"You're not serious are you?" I faintly muttered at the sight of the latest window that popped up in view. "You told me this morning to exercise my gifts with responsibility! Drugging up people on Godly food is not responsible!"

 **Sure it is.  
Are you going to abandon the people you feed?**

"That's presuming that I would even do something like that in the first place—and of course not!"

 **Then all is well.  
You may abuse your advantages so long as you take responsibility for the consequences.**

"…That can't be okay." I felt Gamer's Mind kick in, driving my more explosive motions into the depths of my mind. While I still didn't feel comfortable with what was tantamount to feeding someone with aphrodisiacs—albeit in an unconventional manner—my more logical portions saw the advantages. My cooking was a rather clean and nonintrusive method to get involved with other people. There was still another problem, "Besides even if I can make Godly dishes, no one is going to want to eat them. And I can't be indirect about it either, otherwise people will refuse to make the connection between myself and the food I make."

 **So it comes down to Daichi's appearance?  
Have you tried dumping your stat points into STR yet?  
Hint, hint. Wink, wink.**

"You interact with me through screens, you can't wink." I retorted weakly, and then as if to spite me, Gaia's message screen flashed into existence twice. "Argh, you win. Let's see what this is all about."

Despite inheriting some old money from his parents, Daichi lived in a studio apartment. The only mirror that he owned was in his bathroom which was to my immediate right when I entered the hall—leaving a trail of clothes in my wake. I frowned when I saw my reflection.

Daichi was _not_ ugly, within the deposits of fat laid a potentially handsome man. It was just that he chose to attend the wrong school. While other schools in Japan had a wide spectrum of physical appearances, Kuoh did not. From the students all the way down to the custodian, everyone at Kuoh Academy was physically above average. To everyone who was used to a certain level of appearance, Daichi was inexplicably _other_. And for quite a few, that was all the reason they needed to torment him.

"…Everything will be alright, Daichi. I'll make sure of it." My hands which had gripped the sink under the mirror until their knuckles turned white relaxed a little. I would not allow him, me, us, to be beaten down by scum. I took a deep breath, then summoned up my [Status]. I added to my STR point by point, and watched as Daichi's body underwent a drastic transformation.

Pounds of fat were shed off of our frame and were summarily replaced with thick ropes of muscle. It was not a pleasant experienced, as it felt like worms were crawling beneath my skin every which way until they finally settled in place as new muscle. In the span of about 20 seconds—a point per second—I turned from marshmallow Daichi into hypertrophied Daichi. Personally, I didn't like the new look. No offense to bodybuilders and the like, but I hated how I looked like I was jacked up on steroids.

Seeing that STR had an effect on my appearance, I spent my remaining points on DEX, the stat that was related to speed. The feeling of worms returned when I brought up my DEX to 15. This time it felt as if they were condensing, focusing my newly attained physical prowess into cords ready to strike at a moment's notice. When the feeling faded, my reflection showed that Daichi's body was much thinner. I looked as though I achieved the height of physical conditioning—if I ignored my pallor.

"I'm annoyed that I didn't think of this earlier… So, STR makes me look stronger, DEX makes me look sleek, or condensed, not really sure… What do the others do?"

 **You're really doing a disservice to those INT and WIS stats aren't you?**

"Hey! There's no need to be mean." I wasn't particularly offended by the dig at my intelligence. I was more offended that Gaia found it necessary to make a comment!

 **Anyway.  
Other than STR and DEX, VIT also has an effect on your appearance by making you healthier.  
Oh!  
And they stop having drastic effects on your appearance past 40 points.  
The other three stats only have internal effects.**

"Good to know. I should have saved some points for VIT... I could also use more HP as well." Even though I said that, I didn't feel that I wasted my points. I was fully intending to build myself as a Puppetmancer, like I did in Mabinogi. Most of my skills imported from Mabinogi had a high dependence on SP and Physical Attack, both of which were increased by STR. DEX on the other hand would make me faster in everything I do, which lowers battle time and reduces the odds of being injured in a protracted battle.

"On the other hand, I'm a little concerned that Daichi's appearance was trivialized with a handful of stat points. Is this going to be a thing?"

 **As in…  
The feeling of disappointment that you get from knowing that any problem you come across usually has a trivial solution to it?**

"Yep." I replied, leaving the bathroom to pick up the clothes I left behind.

 **It comes with territory.  
I'm sure you'll get used to it!  
Besides, you're the Gamer, my chosen, you can make your own fun!**

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess." I said as I got dressed again, "Now that my looks have been addressed for the most part, what should I do with those leftovers… Throw— "

 **Save them!  
You're not allowed to forget things around me.  
If you continue to resist, I will only make things more awkward for you.  
Speaking of which…**

 **Quest Replacement – Feeding the Ladies (0/3)  
Your futile attempts at resisting the ever magnificent lady of earth has annoyed her. Now you must subvert three WOMEN through the power of your cooking!**

 **Limitation: Dishes given must be of Godly quality.**

 **Reward: +10000 EXP, Harem, ?**

 **Failure: Gaia will be really, really, REALLY upset with you. Or at least she'll make you do more uncomfortable things.**

"Now you're just messing with me," I reluctantly tossed the two uneaten rice balls into my [Inventory], where they took up the first of one hundred slots.

 **I am.  
But I'm also completely serious as well.**

I sighed a sigh from the very depths of my soul. This was my life now.

 **Part 5.**

The very next day I once again abstained from going to school. I had to remind myself that I was doing this to further my plans for getting involved in canon and give me some time to train. I wasn't avoiding school because I was a coward or anything, nope!

The first thing I wanted to do was gain more skills, not because I needed more of them—I already had 140 skills imported from Mabinogi, and that's plenty—but because the ones I properly obtained from Gaia would provide stats I desperately need to make my skillset work. In the end I'll just end up ballooning my [Skills] window even further. Urgh.

"So before I get started on a skill creation marathon, mind explaining what skills are exactly?" I think I can blame Gamer's Mind for making me so at east with casually conversing with _the_ Gaia, primordial entity of the planet and mother ancestor to all life! Or maybe I'm just lacking self-preservation instincts and Gaia is only tolerating me because it amuses her. Nah. Definitely the first one.

 **If I could describe it in a phrase, it would be…  
"I am one, I am many."  
As the mother of life, I am intrinsically tied to the living.  
As a result, the memories, experiences, and thoughts of humanity are preserved within me.  
And I can make use of this in many ways.  
I have crystallized legends into gods.  
Fashioned the realms in which they reside.  
And for you, my chosen…  
Skills are packets of information that you gradually access through my system.**

"That makes sense… But wait, what about those skills I used by using System Adaptation?"

 **"I am one, I am many** ** _._** **"**

"…Oh. Oh! Alright, I got it." I wasn't sure before if there was actually more than one Gaia. By repeating the same phrase, she basically confirmed that, yes, she is one of _many_ Gaia—but they are all the same. And somehow they can communicate with each other and share information, culminating in the skills I have now. "I assume that's the reason why I don't receive any stats from my Erinn-based skills?"

 **Of course.  
I won't let you cheat on me with another Gaia!  
Just what do you think stats are?**

"Buh… My growth as a person?" As soon as I said that, my vision was filled with screens that only said 'LOL'. Tch. Can I get another Gaia? This one was being annoying. The screens disappeared as soon as they appeared and in their place came about a single screen.

 **No, silly!  
They represent the power of our LOVE for each other!  
The more you use my system, the more you become one with me!  
It feels good, y'know?**

"I wouldn't." Okay, I was definitely certain that Gamer's Mind was preventing me from freaking about these revelations. So Gaia was apparently in love with me—which might explain why I am her apparent chosen—and I wasn't about to question a primordial woman's attraction for me. I do have self-preservation instincts, thank you very much. That said, I could now claim that I was _in_ with a primordial entity. That's even better than being in bed with a regular deity. Probably. "But I am very flattered. Anyway… Back to obtaining skills. Um, there isn't a thing where you can just straight up give me skills is there?"

 **Why do you sound like you don't want it to be a thing?  
Because I'm going to tell you now…  
It is a thing.**

"I'm fine with taking shortcuts, but taking too many is bad for my mental health."

 **It's not like the skills I can give you will be immediately maxed out, y'know?  
The requisite grinding is a safety feature.  
Otherwise you'd die in a way I can't fix.  
Anyway!  
You can request 1 skill of any kind per 1 level.  
So at the moment you can request 6 skills from the great me!**

"Ah. A little broken, but fair… I think." Even better was the casual confirmation that I could die with ill effects. It was a concern—and an important one too—that I was too afraid to address. I continued, "I'll take up your offer. Hm… Why don't you pick the six skills for me? They have to be skills that I can't feasibly get in the next couple of hours, but it'll be your pick."

 **I get to choose?  
Yay!  
Let's see… Oh!  
You'll like these I'm sure!**

 **Realm Creation/Active/Level 1/20% MP  
A skill after my own heart! This will allow you to gradually create more complex personal realms for you to use. These realms are tied to you and can only be accessed by yourself and those you give permission. +25% WIL. +3 WIL per level. Current realms available: Mirror, Malice.**

 **Haste/Buff/Level 1/15 MP per second  
Faster and faster! Temporarily increase the speed of your body and mind by 5%. +0.5 DEX, INT per level.**

 **Charming Aura/Passive/Level 1/No Cost  
The only reason why Vampires can get away with being stalker-ish is because of their skills at charming others. Plenty of other supernatural races are capable of using charms, but Vampires do it best. +5% Attractiveness to females.**

 **Peerless Digestion/Passive/Level 1/No Cost  
Everyone needs to eat, even you as the Gamer. But the human digestive tract is not as it could be! With a touch of internal magic, you can pull out even more from the food you eat. +5% Bonus to food effects. +10% VIT. +1 VIT per level.**

 **Shadow Walk/Active/Level 1/20 MP per second  
Where there is light, there is also shadow. Become one with the dark to traverse great distances all at once. +0.5 WIS per level.**

 **Mortal Languages/Passive/Level MAX/No Cost  
Some skills are pure information. Through Mortal Languages, you can understand and fluently speak all human languages dead or alive in the past, present, and future. This skill provides no other advantages, but as a polyglot, you'll look impressive.**

I stared at the six new windows that flashed into view and then sighed when I saw the third one. "I should've known you'd give me something like that! Not subtle at all, Gaia," I palmed my head with both hands, "And I know you're aware that I am not a harem seeker, so what gives?"

 **It amused me.  
Besides, you're a person of power.  
You'll end up attracting all kinds of attention.  
Think of it as preemptively smoothing over any problems in the future!**

"Ugh. Fine. Not like I can return it anyway." Part of my problem was that with skills like Charming Aura in conjunction with my cooking, I felt that any relationships I made with the opposite sex would be disingenuous because they were ultimately forms of compulsion. Would they truly love me even without these factors, and could I love them knowing that coerced them in some way? Or maybe I was underestimating the willpower of others. I don't know.

"…Aside from that, all the other skills look useful. Especially Mortal Languages." I said after closing the windows, expressing my thanks to Gaia.

 **You're very welcome!  
Oh.  
I recommend that you visit the Malice realm in the near future.**

"Oh. Anything else you want to tell me about it?" The [Help] window remained static and when she didn't respond for another 10 seconds I figured Gaia wanted to keep the whole thing a surprise. With a name like 'Malice,' it couldn't be a very good surprise either…

 **Part 6.**

'So he didn't come after all…' A soft sigh escaped the lips of one Reya Kusaka as she left classroom 2-C. The normally kind and pleasant young woman was distinctly unhappy and couldn't get over the feeling of apprehension welling up in her chest. It was because of Daichi Takahashi, her self-appointed academic rival. Even though she thought of him as such, the two of them never spoke a single word to one another. Daichi, because he was usually a nervous wreck around women up close and Reya, because she didn't know how to converse with someone so withdrawn. It was no secret that Daichi was the most anti-social student of their year. Not even the boisterous Pervert Trio, known for transcending all sorts of social barriers to the consternation of many women, could break through the walls that Daichi put around himself.

Still, it was his presence more than any other that brought out a severe competitive streak within Reya. For high grade point averages, that is. And now that rival of hers had been gone for 3 days, too soon into the school year, without a reason. So the story went, but she knew the reason.

Roughly a year ago, Reya was recruited by Sona Sitri, under her guise as Souna Shitori, into both the Student Council and her Peerage due to high magical potential. Reya was reincarnated as a Bishop, which unlocked said potential and bolstered it. Her true value came into play when it was discovered she had a strong affinity to mental magics. There were many times in Kuoh where the public had to have their memories rewritten due to a nearby supernatural event, and Reya took to it like a fish takes water. And that was not even the limit of Reya's talent in mental manipulation. She found that she could easily slip pass the mental barriers of her peers, her master even, and touch upon the core of their personalities… And if she dared to, _twist_ them into different personalities—permanently. The cognitive dissonance had frightened her so badly that she swore off on using her talents unless it was an emergency and switched her studies in magic to that of barriers and wards, which was Momo's talent.

She stuck to her oath for over half a year until she felt compelled to break it yesterday, and broke it today. The Evil Piece within her soul did many things aside from increasing her mana pool and the efficiency of her spells. It also slowly adapted her physiology so that it was more human than devil, and as the change came closer to completion, traits specific to devils rose to the surface. During the spring break, she was granted a weak empathic sense. She couldn't sense the subtler emotions like a highborn could, but when emotions rolled off the body like waves, it was hard to _not_ sense them. They had the subtlety of a boot to the head.

And it was with this sense that she noticed that a significant proportion of her classmates were _happy_ that Daichi was gone for the second day in a row. No one had said anything about it, instead turning to mundane conversation topics. But that did little to hide the satisfaction in their tones. When everyone shuffled into class in the morning and once again saw the empty desk that belonged to Daichi, it was as if a dam broke. 'Gone for good is he,' 'I wonder if the fat bastard offed himself, now I won't have to look at such an eyesore when I look at the board,' 'This must surely be divine punishment,' and the like were muttered under the breaths of the _sinners_. And Reya, with Evil Piece enhanced hearing, heard it all.

To say she was livid… Would be an understatement.

Reya shattered her oath with full force, scanned the memories of all her classmates, and found that she needed all of her self-control to not render almost everyone into a vegetative state. Even if they, in her opinion, absolutely deserved it. What she saw in those memories was a systematic attempt to destroy Daichi Takahashi as a person. Why? Because he was, in their eyes, morbidly obese and thus a blight on the reputation of Kuoh Academy. It was such an inane reason, but that was all they needed.

When Reya had enough of the memories skirting her mind, she shifted her power, intending mete out punishments worthy of the crime. For those intimately involved Daichi, she rewrote their entire personalities, _murdering_ their old selves. And while it sounded incredibly petty, she had also inserted into these new personalities a handful of debilitating phobias. For those that were complicit to a lesser degree, but involved all the same, she removed the memories of any bullying and had it so that they were missing _something_ and that nothing they did could ever fill that void. And for those who were only tangentially aware of what was going on, she merely removed any knowledge of Daichi's torment. With all of that done, she extended her power to surround the high school grounds and made subtle changes to the student population so that her over changes were consistent.

By lunch time she had finished her work, and was now making her way to the Student Council room. Her master had definitely noticed Reya using her magic and she would be expecting an explanation. Maybe even punish Reya for the severity of her actions, but that wasn't much of a concern at all to Reya.

'I wonder if President has Takahashi-san's records… I have to see if he's okay.'

 **Part 7.**

 **Cooking Production Success!  
You have made Divine Common Stir Fry!  
Restores 200 HP, SP, MP per serving.**

Lunch rolled around, and I was enjoying some stir fry. Mainly to recover from the last two skills I had obtained on my own after Gaia gave me hers. At the same time, I couldn't get over the flavor of my cooking. My reaction wasn't as extreme and messy as when I had eaten one of my rice balls, but with every bite I was getting pleasurable shivers all over my body—kind of like the ones you get when you listen to damn good music.

 **Meditation/Active/Level 1/5 SP per minute  
Center your body and mind to attain the next level of consciousness. In this state, you can reach out to the energies diffused into the atmosphere and pull them into your core, increasing your mana regeneration. +1/s MP regen. +10 MP per level.**

 **Mana Sense/Passive/Level 1/No Cost  
A form of Observe and Perception that modifies your eyes to see flows of mana. You can completely perceive the components of spells and wards equal to this skill's level. +5% INT. +0.25 INT, WIS per level.**

 **Perception/Passive-Active/Level 1/15 MP per minute  
People have their ways of being aware of the world around them, but many of these methods can be detected by those with sufficent strength. The greatest, and most invisible, method is to use the world itself to see the world. 10m radius of complete awareness. +0.75 WIL per level. Additional Effect: +10m radius when skill is activated.**

 **Pain Resistance/Passive/Level 1/No Cost  
Luckily the Gamer's Body skill prevents the loss of brain cells… If the walls could think, I'd bet they'd form a union against your abuses! +1% Pain Reduction. +2 STR per level.**

 **Shock Resistance/Passive/Level 1/No Cost  
Well… At least you didn't wait for a lightning storm to get this one… But, really? Inserting a fork into a socket? Are you five? +1% Reduction against Electric Damage.**

Gaia… didn't exactly approve of my methods for obtaining my resistance skills, as the real world equivalents were usually obtained in mid-combat or when resisting nature. I, on the other hand, thought I was being rather clever by making use of my surroundings. Ah well.

With 11 shiny new skills in my [Skills] window, I had more than enough skills to work on for the next week or two. So I decided to move on to the next thing on my non-existent list of things to do—crafting. I wanted to make use of the knowledge within Daichi's mind to create several facsimiles of Erinn-born items. And to do that I needed several tens of kilograms of mithril and oricalcum. Not because the replicas I wanted to make needed them, but because I could produce these metals and I might as well make them! Fantasy metals, tally ho!

I went outside for what would be the first time in this new life.

From what I remembered about canon, the physical location of Kuoh Town was rather vague. As it turns out, it was somewhere between the Shizuoka and Nagano Prefectures nestled in the Akaishi Mountains. An underground line connected Kuoh to the Shizuoka and Mikawa-Anjo Stations of the Tokaido Shinkansen, allowing the relatively isolated town to remain in contact with Japan proper. Kuoh's location meant that you could easily find a forest if you just went beyond the town's limits. Which was great for my purposes. Daichi's apartment was on the southern edge of town, which made it all the easier. After setting a waypoint with the Erinn-adapted skill Crisis Escape, I let myself get lost in all the nature nearby.

 **Crisis Escape/Active/Rank 1/25% SP  
The original function of this skill behaves similarly to Transformation Mastery, so I have taken the opportunity to make the "Escape" in Crisis Escape more literal. Set a waypoint by using the skill once, then return to the waypoint by using the skill a second time. The waypoint is reset when using the skill again. 10m cooldown. Addtional Effect: Allows you to escape without taking any damage. **

After an hour or two of aimless walking and staring at the flows of mana that streaked along the ground, I had found a place that was sufficiently dense in the Earth element. I plopped down, activating the Erinn skill Rest, turned on Meditation, and began to course my mana through the air, into the trees, down into the earth, and back into my body. I was doing this because I wanted my mana to become Earth-flavored, so to speak, before I turned it into a crystal by using Mana Crystallization. And when I had a lot of these crystals, I'd be able to use yet another Erinn skill, Metal Conversion, to turn them into the metals I desired.

 **Rest/Active/Rank 1/No Cost  
Sometimes you just need to sit down. 400% increase to HP, SP regeneration.**

 **Mana Crystallization/Active/Rank 1/15 MP  
Capture sources of mana and render them into crystalline form. Also allows for the synthesis of elemental crystals by interacting with the relevant elemental sources. +90% base success rate to element and mana conversion. +50% base success rate to mana conversion mid-combat. Elemental Wave Effect: 100% success rate to mana conversion mid-combat.**

 **Metal Conversion/Active/Rank 1/Rarity Dependent  
If the distinct attributes of a substance can be changed, it is possible to create new substances. Alchemists have long studied the relationship between the flow of time and the changes in substances. As a result, Alchemists have become successful in changing the attributes of metals. Through this skill, you will be able to transform normal and readily available metals into rare and valuable metals. Exquisite base quality. Rarity and quality of ingredients affects success rate. Additional Effect: Clay crystal conversion possible.**

After 5 minutes of labor, I ended up getting a new skill called Mana Manipulation.

 **Mana Manipulation/Passive/Level 1/No Cost  
Just because you can see the flows of magic doesn't mean you can manipulate them just as easily. As one trains in the art of Mana Manipulation, they gradually find themselves capable of moving the flows with surgical precision and energy to spare. -0.75% MP cost to all actions requiring MP. +10% WIS. +2 INT, WIS per level.**

Three or so hours had passed by, and at a rate of one Clay Crystal every ten seconds, I ended up with about a thousand crystals. Saving 400 in my [Inventory], I converted one set of 360 into 24 kilograms of mithril, and another set of 360 into 18 kilograms of oricalcum. If the dwarves—they exist—were to see me now, just casually creating kilograms of rare metals, they'd probably hemorrhage blood from the ears at the audacity of it all. Maybe kidnap and lock me up, too. It took decades for natural deposits to create even a kilogram of mithril or oricalcum, and the dwarves guarded their deposits with a ferocity that could make dragons blush.

…I probably should've done all this in the Mirror Realm. It's a good thing that dwarves were based in Europe and not Japan. Then again, Japan is likely home to its own brand of metal nuts, so I ought to be more cautious the next time around.

My gains didn't just end at my newfound riches. I had leveled Peerless Digestion to 5—I was snacking the entire time—Meditation to 10, Mana Sense to 4, Perception to 5, and Mana Manipulation to 10. At some point, I had noticed that my MP regen was constantly keeping my MP topped off, so I decided to take advantage of it and train in Perception as well.

"Sun's coming down… I should get going." Crisis Escape activated soon after and felt its 'pull' as I was transported out of the forest and back into my home. When I opened my eyes, I saw Daichi's room as I had left it.

Except for two things. Or rather, _people_.

"Who are you!?"

Ah shit.

 **Part 8.**

"Who are you!?" It was with considerable self-control that Sona Sitri did not obliterate the young, admittedly handsome, man that just _phased_ into existence right before her very eyes. She _loathed_ surprises and was already feeling just a mite tense from being in the home of a possible suicide victim.

She was disappointed when she felt the flexing of magic that was unique to her Bishop, Reya, earlier in the day. Sona usually took discretion very seriously, the exception being when her competitiveness with Rias got out of hand or when her _sister_ was nearby, and was naturally going to have words with Reya as soon as she came in to explain herself. When she did come in, that disappointment was gradually turned inward as Sona took in Reya's explanation.

Sona was an heiress, a King, a leader. Unlike many highborn Devils, Sona was an adherent of noblesse oblige. She may control her Peerage, her students, but in return they were elevated to a higher standard. Under her tenure as Student Council President, students thrived. In return she cracked down on inappropriate and petty behaviors. To have discovered that an instance of bullying existed for over a year spoke ill of her ability to maintain control. Without Reya finding out, this entire incident had the potential to ruin Sona's reputation of control, something that she has been cultivating for years in preparation for her future plans.

With the main perpetrators already taken care of, all that remained was to ascertain the safety of one Daichi Takahashi. When they arrived at his studio, the lack of response from the doorbell being rung felt damning to Reya and Sona. As one minute passed into five, they took the plunge and broke into the apartment and found it… Empty. There were signs that it had been lived in until at least today, the smell of cooked food still clung to the air and there were dishes in the sink that looked like they'd been recently used. It at least meant that Daichi was _probably_ still alive, just not around at the moment. At least not within a distance that they could sense, anyway.

Which brings them back to the present.

Just as they were about to leave, _he_ appeared out of nowhere, forcing Sona and Reya into defensive stances, Devil sigils at the ready and thrumming with potency. Despite being held at spell-point, the alarm in the man's eyes faded as recognition took their place, "I'm… Ah. Takahashi Daichi."

The two girls blinked at the man's admission. _This_ was Daichi Takahashi?

'Reya-san…?' The girl in question understood the implied telepathic request.

'His outward thoughts are muddled and some of his memories are obscured…' The soft-spoken Bishop was temporarily awed by the structure of the man's mind. Everything at the surface was completely shattered, making it impossible for Reya to discern any meaning from them. But as Reya peered deeper into the man's mind everything became more open, vulnerable. She found it odd that the most important part of the mind would be so unprotected, but it would allow her to find what she needed. And when she did, she faltered, the spell in her hand losing all of its power, 'It's there. Deep in his mind, the memories… The abuse… it's really him Sona-sama. It's Takahashi-san.'

Sona sent a mental nod of thanks to Reya and cut the power to her own spell. She once more regarded the young man confirmed to be Daichi Takahashi. Potential, where none had existed before, was how Sona evaluated the current Daichi—the teleportation ability made it that obvious. She remembered Daichi, like how she remembered all students with good academic records. In her memories, he was a large, taciturn young man that could be constantly found in the library, studying in his spare time. His work ethic impressed her, and had once considered using a Pawn on him. And she was regretful that she didn't.

"I apologize for the hostilities then, Takahashi-san," He nodded, "Reya-san learned about the… _Treatment_ you were facing and feared the worst for you when you didn't come to class today. I'm sure you must have questions about what we just did," Daichi nodded again, "And I'll explain eventually, but we'd really like to know what had happened to you the past couple of days."

Daichi's body locked up for a moment, then with equal measure and tone said, "I died," Reya gasped, "I died. And then I woke up… Changed. My body became as it is now and in my mind there's… Information? Yes, information of how to use my newfound abilities. Just earlier I was in the forest, practicing."

"I see…" Sona briefly pondered over what she just heard. Daichi's story was actually kind of common if a Devil was involved—as they had the technology to do that sort of thing. However, Daichi lacked the distinct aura that all reincarnated Devils had, so something else had to be involved. And she was very interested in discovering what that something was. She continued, "Is there anything you can do other than teleporting?"

"Yes," replied Daichi.

When no other answer was forthcoming, Reya began to shift uncomfortably in the silence. On the other hand, Sona inwardly approved of the lull in the conversation. Her compulsions—which she had no compunctions about using even in this situation—were failing to take hold on Daichi, suggesting an ability of some kind. And the fact that Daichi didn't take to her simple prompting even without those compulsions also increased her interest in the young man. In a single word, he had made it so that the only way for them to continue the conversation was for her to contribute what she owed. That was fine with Sona, she had plenty of chances to get what she wanted out of Daichi—and she was going to get it.

"…Tell me," she began, "what do you know of the Abrahamic God?"

* * *

 **A/N: Hi. There's a lot I don't like in this chapter, but it had to go up eventually.  
**


	3. EXTRA: Old Chapter 2

**EXTRA: Old Chapter 2**

 **Part 1.**

 **Quest Alert – Devil Friends (Complete)!**

 **In an event that was a surprise to the both of us—well, just you—Devils Reya Kusaka and Sona Sitri were in your apartment when you returned. With careful navigating, you managed to strike an accord with the Student Council President without revealing too much about your abilities. You're now involved with the supernatural world proper… I'm so proud!**

 **Reward: +5000 EXP, +1 Reputation stage to Reya and Sona (Friendly)**

 **You have leveled up! (x2)**

"I'm sure you are," I groused while dumping my newly acquired stat points into VIT. Daichi's skin reacted to the influx of VIT instantly. It rippled, the waves slightly darkening the skin where they passed and left behind a luster where none had been before.

Sona and Reya had finally left in the evening, just before extracting a promise from me that I would return to school on Thursday—tomorrow. And I was glad they were gone. Let it be known that I _like_ Sona, just as Daichi likes Reya, but it was a harrowing experience to deal with the Devil woman in her capacity as heiress to the Sitri family. There were many times in our conversation where I was _that_ close to revealing the extent of my abilities, something I didn't want to do so early in our relationship. Curse her seductive violet eyes! Curse them!

At least I was able to get away with only revealing Haste and Shadow Walk, which more than impressed the both of them, but I'm sure that Sona had a feeling I was holding back. Still, those skills attracted Sona enough to extend an invitation to her Peerage. Which I gently denied, but she wouldn't be a Devil if she didn't make some gains out of our meeting, so now I had a deputy position in the Student Council. And I couldn't get rid of it.

Sona was very clear that independent elements in _her_ territory would not be tolerated, and by being close to the Student Council, she could carefully monitor and cultivate my talents. She was very adamant in her invitations. I was also sure that although she didn't mention her by name, Sona didn't want to lose me to Rias. And by the end of our discussion, there was a lingering threat in the air that if I couldn't be a part of her Peerage, then she would have me as a contracted Magician. Never underestimate the power of Devil greed.

"So…" I started, my voice laced with accusation.

 **So…**

"You knew that was going to happen, didn't you? The meeting."

 **(´• ω •`)  
I don't know what you're talking about!  
I totally wouldn't amuse myself by letting you get caught flatfooted.  
Honest.**

"Ha…" I gave up. Could I honestly stop someone like Gaia from getting her fun? No, hell no. But that didn't stop me from being annoyed, "I suppose if it's for benign stuff like this, then I don't mind—as annoying as it is—but please don't do it when there's a potential for danger."

 **That goes without saying!  
You wound me, my chosen.  
Are you trying to make me cry?  
Are you?**

I twitched at the blatant guilt trip attempt. I could only palm my face in response, "Nice try, Gaia."

 **Didn't work, huh?  
Maybe next time.  
I know you're a bit annoyed, so how about I make it up with 2 new skills? **

"Sure. Your choice, like last time. Might as well make it a thing."

 **Woo!  
How about an illusion skill and a teleportation skill?  
Y'know, to run with the assumptions that Sona has about your talents.**

 **Blink/Active/Level 1/5% MP  
Disappear and reappear at a distance within your line of sight. This type of teleportation is tough on the body. 10m teleportation distance. +2 STR, VIT per level.**

 **Glamour/Active/Level 1/20 MP per minute  
A spell that lets you take the appearance of others. Its potency is less than that of Transformation Mastery, but allows for rapid transformations. Glamour durability is 50% of HP. +1 INT, WIL per level.**

"Thanks. I just hope the image doesn't stick, I'll have to let her know that I can do more than just sneak around… Not now of course, but definitely before she settles on that conclusion." Sona was a person whose trust I didn't want to betray. At the same time, my screwy powers as the Gamer was information I couldn't give out lightly. I needed us to be close and as loathe am I to admit, seducing her through food was sounding like a pretty good idea. Damnit, Gaia.

 **Part 2.**

I pulled out my stores of mithril and oricalcum. Another thing I was going to have to explain to Sona at some point, but right now, I wanted to get some crafting done.

Observe told me a lot about the metals in my hands. Gaia's version of mithril was a light, silvery metal that retained its strength no matter what form it was worked into. This meant that it could be spun into a fabric that had the same protective properties as that of a plate of mithril. This was its most useful aspect, the other being high receptiveness to magic. Apparently if you created an alloyed mithril with other metals, you could create a product that was only visible in moonlight. Tolkien didn't exist in this world, so I'm pretty sure that this was Gaia's sense of humor at work again.

Gaia's oricalcum, a copper-red metal, was the opposite of mithril in that it rejected magic, making it the bane of Elementals and other creatures born of magic, yet still had the same amount of strength. Because of its natural resistances, it was very hard to find processed oricalcum anywhere except in the hands of the various blacksmith gods. And that was a good thing too, because a weapon wrought from oricalcum out in the open would be a supernatural nightmare.

To begin the crafting process, I stripped down to my boxers. Speaking of boxers, and Daichi's clothes in general, I was fortunate to learn that if I equipped them through my inventory, they would fit to my frame. Which was good, as I didn't want to deal with clothes way too wide for me to wear. Nonetheless, I stripped for a reason, not because I wanted to engage in narcissism. I intended to use the Erinn-based skill Synthesis to create some armor, and if I wanted a good fit, then I had to be almost naked.

 **Synthesis/Active/Rank 1/Rarity Dependent  
By utilizing the knowledge within the user, this skill allows one to create items from constituent components. Exquisite base quality. Rarity and quality of ingredients affects success rate. +70% base success rate.**

The original skill in Mabinogi worked differently to the version of the skill I had now. In Mabinogi, Synthesis was used by interacting with a prop called a Dry Oven. Basically a metal box that was placed over a fire. By combining three or more items, you would get a random item in return, but there were also specific combinations of items that always returned the same result. In this world I could do something similar. If I intimately knew the intricacies of the item I wanted to make, and had the raw materials to make it, then Synthesis would allow me to instantaneously create the item. Synthesis also allowed me to imitate the crafting process of other production skills, by borrowing my proficiency in those skills.

It was the latter method that I used to convert 2 kilos of my mithril into fabric, about 134 square meters of fabric, of which I only needed a tiny portion to make the majority of my armor. The armor in question was the Languhiris Chaser set, a set that I never owned in Mabinogi, but would in real life once I was done.

After half an hour and liberal applications of Synthesis, I had completed the set—with several modifications. The main body of the outfit was an overcoat that had an oricalcum breastplate fused to the chest area. The original armor had a belt that helped secure the plate by looping around the back, where an ornamental sigil could be seen. I replaced both of these things with a series of overlapping plates—top over bottom—fused to the back of the coat. The stylized cross-shaped oricalcum shoulder guards were also fused to the coat, and three upturned mithril spikes were fused to the guards. One of the largest changes I made to the original set was the inclusion of a mithril hood. This replaced the ice crown thing unique the original set. The hood would do a better job of protecting my head than spikes of ice.

Other changes included getting rid of the chains that hung off the waist belt and lining the oricalcum boots with cotton when I felt just how uncomfortable they were to wear. Skin and oricalcum don't mix, but mithril is just fine. Mithril as a cloth feels like silk, to be honest.

As complete as the outfit was, I wasn't yet finished with it. I wanted to add some enchants. In this world, enchants could be added in a variety of ways. From inscriptions, to mana circuits and persistent spells, the sky was the limit when it came to enchanting. I didn't have an Enchanting skill, but I did have Magic Craft. The original Magic Craft was used for cobbling together hearts and plant residues into wands and staves, and while I _could_ do that now, the skill was further adapted to include enchanting within its purview.

Knowledge of how to enchant I had aplenty, but without the requisite skills and catalysts, there was very little I could do. Thankfully, I was proficient enough in Mana Manipulation to create mana circuits that had the effects I wanted: self-cleaning and color manipulation. The want for a self-cleaning enchant was self-explanatory. As for color manipulation? Because I wanted to change the color of my outfit based on the mood. I grafted these circuits onto the mithril portions of my outfit using Magic Craft and considered the entire set to be complete.

 **Crafting Complete!  
You have created the Exquisite Unique Languhiris Chaser set!  
+2700 STR, INT. +1688 VIT, WIS. +1800 DEX, +1463 WIL. +600 P-DEF, M-DEF. +15% P-RED, M-RED.  
Additional Effects: Self-Cleaning, Color Manipulation.**

"…I should stop being surprised by the results I get," I sighed, "I didn't even know that equipment gave stats. Well that's more my fault really, since I didn't have the presence of mind to ask you, nor have I bothered to do much in the way of experimenting, but I might as well ask now. What's up with the stats and… How do they compare to, uh, Devils?"

 **Eh.  
It's only been a couple of days; you have plenty of time to learn!  
But to answer…  
Any equipment you make or come into contact with can act as an additional container for my power.  
Quality of the make, and the rarity of the materials have an effect on how much of said power can be contained.  
As for relative strength…  
If you were to wear the set, you would be about as strong as an average top tier Highborn Devil.**

I hummed in response, "So, any equipment I use will draw in more of your power, but what about equipment that I give to someone for them to use?"

 **Ah.  
Your idea will work if you make the item yourself.  
Things that already exist have their own properties.  
And I can only temporarily augment them when they are in use by you.**

"Good to know." And it was a very good thing to know. In the future, if I was so inclined, I could empower my allies and if the current flow of events was any indication, that meant Sona and her Peerage. Obviously I'd outfit Sona and Reya first, but I would get to the rest of her group _eventually_.

 **Part 3.**

 **You don't have to do this today…  
Next week would've been just as fine.  
And next month would have been even better.**

"You can't just say 'in the near future' and expect me to put it off. I have the time so I might as well do it now!" The day was firmly in the territory of the dead hours now. I had spent a couple of hours after crafting my armor making preparations for exploring the Malice realm, but Gaia was having other thoughts.

 **I know… And that's my fault really.  
I just want you to take your time.  
Don't feel like you have to rush.**

"That's the thing. I _do_ have to rush. If things don't change around too much, then I have about two months before things start going to shit. But anything can happen between then and now, so I have to be ready." If I had complete confidence that this world would reflect canon to the letter, then I wouldn't have the feel the stress of impending doom. Gaia's chosen or not, immune to most forms of death or not, at the moment I was still very weak in the grand scheme of things. I had to achieve a respectable power base, and I had to do it soon.

Sure, I could craft my way to victory. My armor was a sign of that path. Power on par with a highborn Devil and all you had to do was wear the thing? Sounded great, but it was a crutch. I couldn't allow myself to develop a dependency on my items no matter what their numbers showed. They had a limit, and they could break. It was far better to use them to only supplement my strength rather than use them as a basis. My real strength relied on obtaining skills and leveling up.

The latter was not so much of a problem. Gaia is a rather generous lady, so I have full confidence in expecting that whatever quest she gives me in the future, that they'll reward me greatly. That _was_ just an assumption though, and I've only known her for three days. She might just be buttering me up and purchasing my loyalty through the shininess of the Gamer ability to further her agenda… Only to later dispose of me once she has no further use of me. But that's damn cynical and depressing. So instead of that I'd rather be optimistic instead and believe that Gaia is as she presents herself to be.

Back on point.

The former, getting skills, was a time sink. A big time sink. Getting skills for leveling up is a shortcut, but they still had to be trained to their full potential. There was a solution—well, part of one—to this issue: Doppelganger. It was an Erinn skill that I had forgotten about until a couple of hours earlier, when I using Mana Crystallization to create other elemental crystals within the Mirror realm—which turned out to be a more subdued copy of the real world that lacked any life.

 **Doppelganger/Active/Rank 1/10% HP per clone  
A doppelganger in this context is a reflection of yourself. Sacrificing a bit of your vitality, you can create a copy of yourself that retains a portion of your abilities. This copy is connected to your senses and can be controlled remotely. Clones retain 80% of original's stats. Additional Effect: No cloning limit.**

It was through this skill that I managed to create thousands of Fire, Water, Wind, and Clay crystals at a rate much faster than in the afternoon. The hitch, as it were, was obvious within the skill description: my senses were tied to my clones, _all of them_. To make matters worse, my clones were also connected to each other, something to do with mental entanglement with minds that are copies of each other. So imagine being one of a hundred individuals seeing through the eyes of the other ninety-nine plus yourself. The result? Incredible vomit-inducing nausea.

Yeah. Gaia had a laugh at that one.

The nausea was manageable if I reduced the number of clones, closed my eyes, and tried really, _really_ hard to not move. Not a solution, but workable for things that don't require me to move. As such, Meditation and Mana Manipulation were brought up to 36, Mana Sense to 20, and Perception to 27. We even got Haste to 5. Fast growth by any measure and I really wanted to make use of clones.

Which was another motivation for me to visit the Malice realm. I only had a data point of one, however, from the impressions I had with the Mirror realm, the functions of said realm were rather literal. So with a name like Malice, I should expect a realm full of… Well, malice. And that presented a combat possibility. Which means experience points, which means levels, which means skills, which means Gaia trivializing my current problems.

I pulled away from my thoughts, "In any case," I began over the brief lull in conversation, "you sound worried, what's up? Er, well, not 'sound,' but 'read' worried? You know what I mean."

 **I am.  
If you go now, it would be your first combat experience in this life.  
It's only natural that I'm worried for my chosen.  
But don't let that stop you.  
Just… Whatever you do.  
Don't use Observe in there.**

 **Quest Alert – Blind to the World  
You insist on making an excursion into the Malice realm and I won't stop you. Even so, I only ask that you listen to my advice and don't use Observe in there. And please, come back safe.  
Reward: +1000 EXP  
Failure: ?**

"I promise," I replied automatically. Her affections aside, the impression I had about our relationship so far was one of casualness and good-natured ribbing. Worry… Worry was a new one and I liked it. That said, I activated Realm Creation and watched tendrils of energy wrap around me in a bright cocoon as the reality beyond it shifted from the safe confines of Daichi's to a world filled with malice.

Once the shift ended, the cocoon vaporized into motes of light, leaving me to be buffeted by the realm's atmosphere. I couldn't find the words to describe what I felt. It was… Thick. Thick like blood. And there was plenty of blood in this place, not just in the metaphorical sense. It _rained_ out of the jagged, cracked obsidian ground and stormed skywards. There they pooled into roiling black clouds that seemed to _stare_ back if you looked at them.

And then I felt _it_ —the absolute feeling that if I were stay put, I would die in the very next moment.

 **Skill created through special action!**

 **Detect Bloodlust/Passive/Level 1/No Cost  
The world is not always a safe place. There are things out there that will want you dead and knowing their intent is the first line of defense. Allows you to sense harmful intents towards your person in a 10m radius. +1 STR, WIL per level.**

Empowered by my armor, I placed all my strength in side-hopping to the right. I had intended to only cross a couple of meters, but over shot by a couple tens of meters. It at least gave me the perfect vantage to see what had just tried to attack me.

It was an octopus. A massive octopus.

No, that wasn't quite accurate. It had the shape of an octopus, but was far more than that. Excluding the extraneous features, the creature's body plan was pure white and not a shade darker. The creature appeared to be blind, lacking eyes. It had no lack of mouths though. Toothless mouths that were dotted all over the octopus' head and tentacles—which were weird in of themselves—and each possessed barbed, gray tongues that flickered about, tasting the air for something. For _me_. And finally, the tentacles. If I ignored the fact that they had mouths lined all over the topside then they would look like any other tentacle, but I'd also have to ignore the fact that in place of suckers there were these _fingers_ , long and spindly _fingers_ that jabbed relentlessly at the spot I was just at.

I had to thank Gaia for Gamer's Mind. I felt the skill push back at this _wrongness_ was feeling from looking at the creature.

 _It had to go_.

Relying on the additional effect of my skill Alchemy Mastery to use Erinn Alchemy without a cylinder, I stomped on the ground three times. For every step, a six-meter-high Golem made out of floating slabs of white rock appeared next to me. And for each Golem a mental link appeared in my mind, every aspect of their movement under my control. And I only need them to do one thing.

 **Alchemy Mastery/Passive/Rank 1/No Cost  
You understand the meaning of "Equivalent Exchange," increasing your successes in Alchemic Production. You understand the elements of nature in relation to Alchemy, allowing you to better convert essences of nature for your own purposes. This skill allows you to exercise Alchemy without the use of Cylinders. +15% to Production success rates. +75% to Alchemy modifiers.**

 **Summon Golem/Active/Rank 1/30 SP, MP + 5 Earth, Wind, Water, Fire Crystals per Golem  
Animate dirt and stone to create a golem with limited intelligence by using the elements as a catalyst. Only 3 golems may exist at once per user. Golem stats are dependent on this skill, Clay Mastery, Alchemy Mastery, and an elementally aligned Cylinder. 360s summon duration. Elemental Wave Effect: Shadow Golem summon available.**

"Attack!" I sure as hell didn't need to say it, but it sounded good. The Golems lurched towards the octopus, crossing the distance between us within seconds. Their approach was noticed by the creature, who reacted by training its fingered tentacles on the trio of constructs—thank Gaia it didn't screech. Those tentacles found purchase on the center Golem and began to constrict it in a vain attempt to snuff out the Golem's life. Too bad it was made out of rock.

This left the octopus' head wide open and I took advantage of that by ordering the other two Golems to flank the thing and wail on it. With Perception active I was relieved to know that there was nothing else around me within 270 meters. The area I was in was also flat, and with a quick look around I saw that there was no other creature in visible range for at least a kilometer or two.

I felt one of the mental links suddenly shatter while I was scanning my surroundings. I trained my sight back on the octopus thing to see that it had just destroyed the Golem it was latched onto and began to do the same to the remaining two. I replaced the destroyed Golem with another and sent it forward to join the rest. I imbued the newest Golem with Shock, surrounding its body of rock in an aura of electricity. A second passed and a flash of lightning struck the octopus on the head, briefly stunning it only to be struck with another flash a second later before it could recover. This pattern repeated for twenty seconds, giving the Golems ample time to tenderize the octopus with heavy strikes. The creature still showed no signs of dying regardless of its bruised appearance. And without Observe I couldn't tell how much of its life remained.

 **Shock/Active/Rank 1/40% SP, MP + 2 Wind, 1 Fire Crystal  
Generates a shield of electricity that surrounds the user. Enemies nearby will find themselves shocked by the sparks that the shield releases every so often. +75~90 Wind Damage. 60m radius. 20s duration. 60s cooldown. 1s discharge rate. Additional Effect: Can be casted on Elemental Wave enhanced Rain Cast. Elemental Wave Effect: +20% Shock Damage, +30m radius, +30s duration.**

While the octopus was stunned I circled around the battle so that I could get a clear shot at it myself. I casted Haste on myself, increasing my movement speed by 20% and then closed the gap between myself and the octopus with Charging Strike.

 **Charging Strike/Active/Rank 1/6 SP  
Stage 1 Chain Skill. Close the gap between you and the enemy. 400% Physical Damage. 70m range.**

The blow struck true and with the beast still trained on one of my Golems, I followed up with a Spinning Uppercut. The sound glass shattering indicated to me that I managed to activate the skill's debuff—Broken Guard.

 **Spinning Uppercut/Active/Rank 1/10 SP  
Stage 2 Chain Skill. SHORYUKEN! Your blazing fists temporarily shatter the defenses of the enemy! 700% Physical Damage. Additional Effect: +80% chance to inflict Broken Guard for 40s, decreasing target Physical Defense and Reduction by 50%.**

I took a moment to recast Shock on myself, stun-locking the octopus once more, and then jumped onto the mouth covered head fully intending on finishing it off. I punched the head, then again, and again, and again, and again. And I did not stop punching that damned head. Even after Shock wore off I kept on punching without end. The gravity of each blow sunk the octopus thing further into the ground. My Golems were not idle during this time. With the constricted Golem now free due to my punching, I had it and the other two use their weight to restrain the tentacles from having free reign on me.

 **Pummel/Active/Rank 1/14 SP  
Stage 3 Chain Skill. Pin the enemy to the ground and pummel them into the ground! 900% Physical Damage. **

And so it was with this arrangement that I continued to Pummel into the octopus that was reduced to nothing more than a sandbag. Even as I thrashed it, it didn't react and merely took my blows for what they were. Twenty seconds passed into forty, then onto sixty, then into eighty… And the octopus still refused to die. My armor enhanced stats did a lot to keep my going, but I was starting to feel the mental fatigue of having punched something hundreds and expecting the next blow to be the last. It was insanity. This battle, if you could even call it that at this point, was headed nowhere fast and yet I pressed on, utilizing the strongest of my physical skills to bring the end closer.

Soon enough the end _did_ come, just as abrupt as the beginning, and not in a way I expected. Minutes had passed as I continued to make judicious use of Pummel in an effort to slay the octopus. It wasn't working. It wasn't working and I was settling into a pattern, and that left my mind to wander and regard my foe with an intense hatred that, as soon as it bubbled up from the depths of my consciousness, disappeared. And along with it, the monster. I was _fooled_. Baited into attacking a relatively passive enemy only to get frustrated and have those negative emotions fester within until they were ripe for the harvest.

"All of that, for nothing." I spat out, unhappy with my performance. I had enough, it was time to head back home. Once more I activated Realm Creation and waited for the cocoon of light to take me back.

 **Welcome back, my chosen.  
Is everything okay? **

As Daichi's studio came into view I was greeting with a strange message from Gaia. Why was she implying that she wasn't with me when I went into the Malice realm? Isn't she _always_ with me? I asked, "Were you not there with me?"

 **No.  
While you can go into that place.  
I cannot. **

"So all this time I was alone?" Just even thinking that hurt my heart a bit. It's only been three days in this new life, but Gaia has been a constant presence since nearly the beginning. It was hard to admit, but I had developed a dependency on her being around whenever I needed her. It was kind of shit of me, but when you've had multiple poor social lives, you end up clinging to that one person who doesn't turn you away. Or maybe that was just singular to Daichi and I.

 **Yes, and no.  
My power will always be with you.  
It is a connection that cannot be severed.  
But there are places where I cannot reach you with the usual means.  
The Malice realm is one of them.**

"Can you tell me why?" What could possibly prevent Gaia from accessing a dimension of her own making? Was it something that I would have to fight eventually? Would it be just as ridiculous as that damnable octopus?

 **It was stolen for me.  
And the one who stole it has been preventing me from even seeing it.  
As for who's the one that stole it…  
It's too early for you to know.  
One day, but not now.**

How about you tell me what you saw inside?

I recounted my experience with the octopus.

 **A Harvester, that's the proper name for the 'octopus'.  
They're a common sort and often appear in places with high emotional negativity.  
They can also manipulate emotions for their own needs.  
The next time you see one, destroy the 'eye'. **

'The next time,' huh… After my disastrous—by my count—first expedition, I wasn't planning on going back there any time soon, maybe. I wasn't sure. Going to that realm revealed several shortcomings that I needed to rectify before thinking about making another expedition. The first was that I didn't prepare enough. I arrogantly assumed that only Erinn Alchemy would be enough to handle the opposition, restricting my choices from the beginning. From now on, I need to be able to use the entirety of my skillset, at full tilt, at the drop of a hat. The second was my inept tactics. To be fair, I did oddly alright for my first combat foray—maybe it was the fact that I was using skills that I had some familiarity with—but it could have been better. I could have considered possible weaknesses or try using other skills, though the latter would circle back to the first problem. Third… Well, I couldn't think of a third, but that didn't mean it wasn't there! I was just too tired to think beyond points one and two.

"Hey Gaia? I'm gonna hit the sack." I barely managed to stifle my yawn.

 **Alright.  
But before you sleep!**

 **Quest Alert – Blind to the World (Complete)  
You made it back. And that's all that really matters.  
Reward: +1000 EXP **

**You have leveled up! (x1)**

 **And then here's your level up reward!**

 **Hive Mind/Passive-Active/Level 1/30 MP per mind  
Your mind has been restructured to handle the throughput of multiple consciousness, allowing you to create a unified collective that operates under your directives. But a Hive Mind is nothing without numbers, so this skill also allows you to create copies of your mind to add to the network. 6 mind copies possible. +25% INT. +3 INT, WIS per level.**

I smiled, "Just what I needed, thanks Gaia."

 **Of course!  
Good night, my chosen.**

 **Part 4.**

Morning, April 16. Kuoh Academy was in sight. I had promised to go. I wanted to go home instead.

Reya did her best yesterday to convince me that the bullying problem would no longer be a problem; her strengths were really scary when you thought about it. Daichi was also no longer fat and if I at least tried to stand a little straighter, we could probably pull off handsome. Maybe. Suddenly changing our looks—and hardly having the time to get used to it—didn't assuage the nausea that Daichi's body was going through.

At least the other six didn't have to go through with this. Other six. Yes, clones. Before I left to my doom—unnecessarily dramatic, but I feel what I feel—I made use of Hive Mind to create the six copies available to me and then _shunted_ them into Doppelgangers of the same amount. Thanks to Hive Mind's passive effect what resulted was seven identical individuals that all connected to a central consciousness that took the brunt of the sensory feedback due to the Doppelganger skill. I wasn't sure if _I_ was that consciousness or just some kind of administrator—all I cared about really was that we, clones and all, didn't vomit!

And to speed up skill training. That too.

Even now, as I approached the front entrance, I could feel them hard at work. The experiences that they were going through were being fed into the collective. If I brushed my mind against the collective, I felt myself integrating their experiences, taking them in as my own. I briefly wondered if this was the beginnings of a slave network that I, as the original, would be the overseer of. I could imagine it ballooning into an empire and I would have my every whim catered to, served on the backs of my slaves. It felt good to think about. My plans of grandeur, broadcasted over the collective without reservation, were put to a stop by my clones: 'Stop thinking stupid shit and get to school!'

Right.

In this world, Kuoh Academy took up the northwestern edges of town. All of the divisions were visible to each other and were backed by the woods that went out into the mountains. The further north you went, the higher the division grade—meaning that the college was farthest north as well as closest to Kuoh's business and shopping districts.

I approached the front gate, trying my best to ignore the looks from the disproportionately female student population. It was unnerving how in a day those thinly veiled looks of disgust turned into admiration of the male form. I was told to expect this happening; that the mundane would have their memories changed to make it so that I have _always_ been this way. I wasn't sure if I should approve or disapprove of this situation. So I went with a third option: ignore it, ignore it, ignore it.

"Good morning, President, Vice-President." Souna Shitori and Tsubaki Shinra were standing guard at the gates. In Daichi's memories this was a usual thing, Sona's power over the high school division was so immense that there was no need for a Disciplinary Squad. She _was_ the Disciplinary Squad. Knowing Daichi's life, the cynic in me thought very little of that power. I promptly quashed that tangential thought as soon as it came up. There will be no souring of my impressions about Sona, memories be damned.

Compared to the rabid fangirls nearby, my greeting was much more subdued, but a greeting nonetheless. It was a departure from Daichi's standard modus operandi, which was to not saying anything at all, slinking away in hopes of not catching anyone's attention. I briefly wondered why I couldn't just use Glamour and disguise my way through school without having to deal with the _positive_ looks levied at me. But then that'd be revealing another in public too early in the game. Besides, I think I owed Sona at the very least a greeting. She had her plans regarding me, and so far, I was receptive to them, so I might as well be cordial.

"It's good to see you back Takahashi-san," the heterochromatic woman raised an eyebrow at the pleasant tone with which Sona replied. Was she not aware of yesterday's dealings? Strange. Sona continued, "Have you fully recovered from your cold?"

"I did," I paused, "Am I still expected at the Student Council?"

"You are," she said with a glint in her eye, "I'll be expecting you after school, Reya-san will guide you then."

I nodded and then went on my way, ignoring the gossiping going on as a result of our brief exchange. Don't these people have something better to do? Like getting to class, maybe?

In the short distance between the gate and the school building I caught sight of the infamous Perverted Trio: Hyoudou, Matsuda, and Motohama. It was difficult to ignore the asinine conversations they were having about breasts and porn. And I was glad I didn't quite discount their chatting. If I did I wouldn't have overheard Issei mention that he got a girlfriend… _Yesterday_. Yuuma Amano. Raynare. Issei was going to die—if only temporarily, maybe—and _soon_.

I kept on walking, making no sign of reacting to what I just heard. I made it to 2-C, nodded in greeting to an already seated Reya—who smiled in return, she's lovely—and perused Daichi's memories to find my seat. Seated, I conversed with Gaia over what I just heard a couple minutes before.

'To save, or not to save… That is the question.'

 **That was a horrible reference to Hamlet.  
You should be ashamed.**

'I thought it was a fitting alteration to the opening of his soliloquy.' I really did, 'But let's not ignore the problem at hand.'

 **What problem?  
Just ignore it like you did those stares.**

'For someone who claims to be the mother of all life, that was a pretty blatant disregard for a person's life.'

 **Hey!  
I ****_am_** **the mother of all life.  
But that doesn't mean I treat all life equally.  
Case in point: You.  
As for Issei Hyoudou…  
He's between planarians and dodos on my 'Most Disliked' list.**

What. She has lists for her favorite and least favorite forms of life? Just another reason why incredibly powerful beings are off-kilter by human reasoning, I suppose. 'I'm not even going to comment on that list thing… And besides, a life is on a different magnitude to the nauseating stares I'm getting!'

 **A life that, when you think about it, has very little to do with you.  
You have your own problems, my chosen.  
Don't add to them by putting yourself at risk.  
Which means you do ****_not_** **involve yourself with Issei Hyoudou.  
And if you ****_really_** **have to get involved, it's not like you have to do it, right?**

I very nearly palmed my face when I saw Gaia's reply. How could I already forget my clones? My collective? I'm getting concerned that my burgeoning INT and WIS stats are having very little effect on my actual intelligence. Or maybe I was distracted with the potential loss of a life. It's hard to not be sensitive about that sort of thing, considering my own second wind. Nevertheless, I had a simple solution to my concerns about Issei—as much as I didn't like the guy. I'll just sic a clone on him when he goes on his date and then react depending on the circumstances. Simple.

'…Where would I be without you Gaia.' I had the decency to be a bit sheepish in my response.

 **Probably dead.  
Yeah. **

'…'

 **Part 5.**

Praise Gaia that school was finally over! Now all of these damned classmates of mine can go fuck off while I take care of other business. Calm down, calm down.

It was really touch and go for me throughout the day. I had to spend a lot of effort in preventing Daichi's body from reflexively decking our classmates when they couldn't stop with the not-subtle glances and when lunch rolled around, their attempts at _hounding_ me. Being well beyond the pinnacle of human conditioning isn't all that great when you don't have the mentality for it. And because I didn't have that mentality, I needed to hide. Needless to say that I spent the entirety of my lunch camped out in the woods behind school. Safety in numbers and there was plenty of trees.

"Are you ready to go Takahashi-san?" Reya's dulcet tones wormed their way into my ears, bringing me out of my recollections. She was standing at the front of my desk—when she got there I had no idea—with a patient smile. She was also radiating some kind of aura—not the charismatic kind, but a magic one, in the open—that kept people away from us, though that didn't stop them from gossiping about and observing our interaction. Seriously, shouldn't they be doing something else? Like going home or to their clubs?

"I'll follow your lead Kusaka-san." And with that we made our way to the Student Council room. It was located on the third floor's right wing and was the room closest to the central stairwell. As we made our way, we walked in companionable silence. Every couple of meters, though, I noticed that Reya's eyes would flit over to me. Maybe she wanted to see how I was adjusting to the school-wide memory manipulation? I wasn't sure and I didn't feel the need to bring it up either.

As we got closer to the Council room, that silence became progressively more awkward. At least for me, anyway. There wasn't much I wanted to say to Reya but I felt like I had to because of Daichi's instinctual need to impress the girl he liked wanted to lash out like some kind of guard dog. Not that I could say anything, because the moment I had something to say—along the lines of 'the weather is fine, isn't it,' Gaia, I suck—it died on my tongue as I noticed we stopped before the doors to the Student Council's room. Did I get nervous at the realization that I was about to have a formal meeting with the rest of Sona's Peerage? No, of course not.

Reya tapped on the door twice, each time infused with a bit of mana. Those pulses of mana interacted with a barrier that safeguarded this room and the one next to it; an identification system perhaps? Leave it to the Sona group to be thorough. In my sight the barrier _clicked_ in recognition and Reya, noticing the change, ushered me inside.

The room was twice as long as a standard classroom. At the center of the room—on the side with the windows—was a desk meant for Sona to use in her capacity as the President. In front of said desk were two bracket shaped sectionals that flanked a circular table. On top of the table was a chessboard with black pieces on one side and aquamarine pieces on the other.

To the far right of the room was fully equipped kitchen. I couldn't divine the reason why they would need a kitchen of all things, but then again… Since the room is their base and have to deal with the workload that entails from being a part of the Council and a Peerage, then I suppose having a kitchen makes sense. I wonder if I'll be permitted to use it. Won't hurt to ask later.

On our side, left, there was a long desk that could easily seat ten to twelve people at once. This was where the Student Council was currently seated at. Sona and Tsubaki sat at the head of the table. Momo Hanakai, Genshirou Saji, Ruruko Nimura were on one side, all of them suspiciously seated close together. Tomoe Meguri and Tsubasa Yura were on the other. All of them were equipped with laptops. High-end laptops according to Daichi's memories.

When we entered the room everyone immediately spotted us, halting their work. I was expected to come, but that didn't stop the second years—Saji especially—from reacting to my appearance.

"Shit! You really did get handsome, that's not fair!" I flinched at his vehement allegation. Who the hell shouts something like that the moment someone enters a room? Saji. I decided that I wasn't going to like this guy. He's also in love with Sona, at least in canon, so we're also going to have some problems there. The bloody idiot already has a ménage à trois in the making, he's not going to take _my_ Sona! …Whoa there me, dial back the possessiveness.

"I'd say it's plenty fair after having died to get a body like this," I snapped back. Huh, judging by their slack-jawed expressions I'd say that they—Sona and Reya besides—were unaware of my circumstances. _Of course_. Did they think that my body was the product of a Devil's contract? Right, they're Devils, that'd be a natural assumption to make wouldn't it?

"I uh, damn, I'm sorry—"

"Saji, that's enough," Sona interrupted, getting the groveling teen to sit back down, "Takahashi-san's I apologize for my Pawn's behavior. I had thought he would act with a little more tact after I had explained your circumstances."

Oh. So they did know, but not about my apparent suicide? Or maybe they were just reacting to how blunt I was being?

"That's fine," I said, "I'm still not used to all of this," Which was true no matter how quickly I had taken to using my abilities, "You know, Devils, magic, the supernatural."

"And that's why you're here," there was a faint smile on Sona's face, "My Bishops and I will help you refine your abilities, but in return I _will_ be putting you to work. And that starts now."

In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess, "What do I do first?"

 **Part 6.**

After a round of introductions once the air had been cleared it was decided that Daichi would work with Reya as the deputy Treasurer. Reya didn't have any problem with that, her experience in cold reading let her know that there was a lot of anger in Daichi and she wanted to help alleviate him of those emotions. However, there was a small traitorous part of her mind that insisted that her motives were far less benevolent; that Daichi's attractiveness was playing a large part in it all.

And it did, to a tiny extent. In the morning Reya had adjusted her wide-scale memory manipulation by placing Daichi among the popular students. In hindsight, it was a bad idea. She saw how badly Daichi reacted, culminating in him running away during lunch just to escape all the voices. Another readjustment would be required it seems.

Right now, she was more focused on being a mentor to Daichi.

"…And that's about it, really. Any questions?" Reya had just gone over her basic duties as the Treasurer for both the Student Council and Sona's Peerage. Money to Reya was a _very_ good motivator to excel in her duties. She'd like to think she hid that part of her personality very well. The rest of the Student Council would beg to differ.

"Are you not worried that someone might find your bookkeeping for the Peerage on this laptop?" That's… That's not what Reya expected as a question.

"Hm. No, there's nothing to worry about. The laptops are only networked to each other and a part of the barrier around this room blocks out most signals, preventing any wireless attacks on our systems. We have Momo to thank for that." The silver haired barrier specialist waved, then immediately got back to flirting with Saji while handling some club requests. How Saji hadn't noticed Momo's or Ruruko's love for him Reya couldn't understand. Maybe it was because young women tended to be infuriatingly indirect when they fell in love with someone? Reya resolved to not be like that kind of person when she fell in love. "Anyway, for the time being I'll have you look for any discrepancies from last quarter's numbers. I always double check, but it's nice to have another pair of eyes."

Reya handed Daichi a stack of paper. An intimidating stack of paper. She stifled a giggle at how Daichi tried to not appear intimidated. "I'll… Uh… I'll do my best Kusaka-san."

"I'm sure you will, Takahashi-kun." The two worked in silence. Reya quietly approved of how Daichi had taken to his job, it let her focus on the semester's budget proposal. By the end she was sure that the culture orientated clubs were going to pissed that their budget was going to be reduced for the third semester in a row.

Between the two of them time passed by quickly, yet comfortably. They didn't say much to each other, unless Daichi needed to clarify something, but Reya didn't mind that at all. There was something… _More_ to Daichi that made Reya like being in close proximity to him. She couldn't tell what it was, she didn't question it either; she basked in it instead.

Eventually it came time to switch from student duties to Devil duties and that meant contracts. Which also meant that Reya had to separate from Daichi. She needed an excuse to stay with Daichi.

"Reya-san, you will stay for today," there's the excuse! "I want you to show Takahashi-san the basics of magic. Since both of your talents are vastly different, just the basics should be fine."

With that the President excused herself from the room and everybody else teleported out with Devil magic to handle their requests. That left Reya and Daichi alone together. There was no way that Reya would allow any sort of inappropriateness to happen in the Student Council room, but that didn't stop her from briefly fantasizing.

"…I want to learn that," Reya heard Daichi absently comment. What did he want to learn?

"How to teleport?" She tilted her head in that cute way, "Don't you already know how to teleport?"

He shook his head, "I didn't get to explain last night… Uh, it's teleporting, but only one way. I set a waypoint and whenever I want to go back to it I can teleport, but the waypoint gets removed so I have to replace it if I want to teleport again."

An oddly specific magic, Reya thought, "I might not be able to teach you that method of teleportation."

"Why not?"

"It's a kind of teleportation that's tied to our Devil sigils, which in turn is tied to the President's Clan crest. So I can't teach it to you… Unless you joined the President's Peerage."

"I still have reservations about making a decision like that." Daichi scowled a bit.

"Sorry, I was being insensitive wasn't I?" Reya internally chided herself. She, more than anyone else, knew about Daichi's traumas. It was hard not to when she experienced them herself as she confirmed the existence of Daichi Takahashi yesterday. The process of reincarnating into a Devil touched a little too closely to dying. Naturally, in Reya's opinion, Daichi would be uncomfortable. She couldn't take back her words now, the damage was done, but she could move away from that topic, "I might not be able to show you our way of teleporting. I can, however, show you how our magic works."

"I'd like that, thanks." Daichi brightened up a bit and that's all that really mattered to Reya at the moment.

"Well… It all starts with the imagination…"

 **Part 7.**

While her Peerage was handling their contracts for the evening—with the exception of Reya, who was lecturing Daichi in the ways of magic—Sona visited the Occult Research Club in the old school building. She had already informed Rias last night about the memory manipulation that Reya did the other day, now she was coming in person to formalize her claim over Daichi Takahashi.

"Tea?" It was customary of Akeno Himejima to offer tea to her King's guests. It was also customary to have Sona Sitri's eyebrows three times whenever she observed her childhood friend's generous assets _bounce_.

"No thank you," Sona answered with a clipped tone, "I won't be here for long."

"So what's the occasion Sona?" The black-haired heiress' eyes floated over to the woman sat opposite to her. Rias Gremory. Younger sister to the current Lucifer, heiress to the Gremory clan, and also an owner of a damned huge chest! "Didn't we agree to meet unless it was important?"

Sona nodded. It wasn't an agreement that she agreed with, very much. Sure it got Rias out of her hair—in her opinion, if you got past all the posturing Rias was little more than a spoiled brat—but at the same time it had hurt her for a while that her childhood friend would create such a divide between them. And Sona's Devil pride made it astronomically difficult for her to take back that agreement. All of these factors, and then some, were the reason why the two were no longer best friends, but rivals instead.

"We did, I'm just here to declare immunity for one Takahashi Daichi." Immunity, as in that Rias would make no efforts to try to claim Daichi for her own.

"The natural teleporter, right? If that's all he can do, then you can have him." Rias flippantly replied. Sona inwardly smiled at Rias' immediate dismissal of Daichi. This was good for her. She had purposefully downplayed Daichi's abilities in her initial report. After all, she didn't want to lose the enigma that was Daichi Takahashi to someone like Rias. The buxom woman had already staked her claim on the current wielder of the Boosted Gear, a tool capable of killing gods by doubling the users power every so often. And that was fine. Sona had confidence that Daichi was even better than some mid-tier Longinus. Even if that confidence was currently unfounded.

"Then we have an accord," Rias dipped her head in agreement, "And your plans for Hyoudou? How are they coming along?"

"Going well actually, I should have him in my Peerage by this weekend." Rias was completely confident in her plans. Sona wasn't. It involved relying on Hyoudou's perversions to annoy the fallen angel that had been observing—and recently became his girlfriend—him into killing him… Somehow or another. Sona thought that it would've been easier to just seduce him with those damn udders of Rias', but she wasn't about to throw a bone to her rival.

 **Part 8.**

The young man known as Issei Hyoudou was having the time of his life. Why? Because for the first time in his pitiable life, he managed to snag a date with a hot chick!

Him, one of the Perverted Trio, got asked out by a long haired, slender beauty by the name of Yuuma Amano. He couldn't believe it even as he waited for her to arrive at their meet up spot well in advance. Had the God of Breasts answered his prayers, to award her most industrious zealot in the way of breasts and nipples? Oh boy, he hoped so!

But no, there was no way he was going to let this chance slip by! Despite cavorting around like an idiot with his buddies, spying on the luscious bodies of Katase and Murayama, Issei was very much aware of how his honest and open perversions have damaged his reputation. Alongside his brothers he was absolutely reviled by the female population in Kuoh. Aware he might be, but that didn't stop him from being jealous of the looks that the princely Yuuto Kiba or atheletic Daichi Takahashi gets on a daily basis. He was aware, but still a bit of an idiot.

Still, to have a girl exclusively look _only_ at you and tell you that she likes you? For Issei that was the epitome of happiness—if only because that meant that her breasts would be _his_ and that would mean he could fondle them all he wants to. And in that happiness, how could Issei not fall in love with the cute Yuuma? Today, Sunday, he was not going to mess up their very first date. He was going to make it enjoyable, fun, and maybe at the end of the day… A kiss!?

'Hehehe, I'll get her to fall for my charms and then we'll have another day where we can go even further!' Issei psyched himself up for the umpteenth time in the past three hours. If he wasn't imaging scenarios in which he would eventually get laid, then it was reviewing his crib sheet for the day's activities, and if not that, then checking and rechecking his appearance. He also had the decency to not ogle at the multitudes of women that passed by every minute. He even threw away that weird pamphlet he got from devil themed—a common theme around Kuoh, Issei briefly recalled—woman earlier!

"Issei-kun! Sorry I'm late!" Issei snapped out of his latest delusion and spied a rosy-cheeked Yuuma making her way over to him. 'She looks so hot out of breath like that!'

"Don't worry," he replied with a winning—in his opinion—smile, "I also just got here."

The disguised fallen angel pouted, "Liar. You waited a long time for me didn't you?"

Issei gulped at the slightly accusatory tone in her voice. Did he fail already? No! He couldn't end it here, he had to recover! "I was… So excited to have our date, I couldn't help but come here early."

Yuuma giggled, "You're so silly," she grabbed his hand. Issei did his best to not faint at the sensation, "Where are we going first, Issei-kun?"

The date proceeded apace. Doing his best to emulate a gentleman, Issei escorted Yuuma hand-in-hand to the interior of the shopping district. They mostly window shopped clothes and home décor, reveling in how ludicrous some of the items available were. Like the hippo head totem pole lamp or the men's shirt with the cat keyhole on it. At a curio shop Issei decided to splurge a bit and bought Yuuma a silver bangle with three stylized stars attached to it as a commemoration gift. He preened a bit when she gushed over the thing. At lunch they had a meal at a family restaurant. Issei, being the gentleman that he tried to be, footed the bill using the funds that he was saving for the week's latest releases in adult goods. Porn that he would not have, but this was something better. As they enjoyed desert, Issei did his best to not pop a stiffy at the sight of Yuuma licking her spoon clean.

Afterwards they dropped by the arcades for a while until they decided to walk around town until the sun began to set. They made their way to a park at the east side of town, the curious absence of people and the sunset made for a romantic backdrop. The unlikely couple stopped in front of the fountain the center of the park. To Issei's surprise, and depression, Yuuma let go of his hand so she could stand in front of him properly.

"We had fun today didn't we?" She said smiling. Issei could only nod dumbly.

"Hey, Issei-kun."

"What, what is it Yuuma-chan?"

"I want to do something to celebrate our first date. Can you do something for me?"

"What do you need me to do?" Issei's mind was going twenty-seven meters a second. This romantic atmosphere, the shy yet seductive look on Yuuma's face, the progression of the events so far! It was happening, he thought! This was it!

"Close your eyes for me…" He closed them, like the good boy that he was. His heart threatened to burst out his chest. The anticipation was killing him!

And then it happened.

The softest sensation to ever grace his lips. He felt it. It was a kiss! Issei had to make sure he wasn't dreaming, so he slowly opened his eyes… And there she was. Yuuma's face pressed up against his in a chaste, yet loving kiss. It was real! This was real! Issei believed that he could remain like this forever, he wished sincerely for it to happen.

But the most wonderful feeling in the world ended all too soon. Yuuma backed away a bit, her eyes fluttering open, "Did you peek?"

"Y-yeah… Sorry."

Yuuma grinned—he was in love with that bright expression—and said, "It's okay! You can make it up to me with another date, alright?"

"Another… Date… Yes, of course! Another date. Next week, same time?" Issei asked with a little too much hope in his voice. What he got in response was another kiss to the lips. A yes, in other words.

The two parted soon after that. Issei had offered to walk Yuuma back home, but the fallen angel declined, claiming that she lived nearby. Not seeing anything out of place with that, Issei went his own way. With the two of them gone, the park was once again deprived of any life.

All except for two pairs of eyes hidden away in the foliage.

* * *

 **A/N: Another chapter I'm not happy with. I think I'm the kind of author that can never be satisfied with what he writes... Which kind of sucks, because I _want_ to write. Enough about me, let's talk about this chapter and respond to some reviews! **

**First about the chapter. Part 3 was probably my least favorite part, but I hope it gives some insight to Daichi(?)'s character (mostly in that if you wave something in front of his face he'll want to do something about as soon as possible, among other things). There was also some necessary world building, sort of, that leads up to some stuff in the future. And a number of you will probably dislike my decision to include clones so early into the story (I alluded the skill's presence in the first chapter, but that required some research if you are not familiar with Mabinogi).**

 **My argument is this: Part of the theme of this story is that Daichi(?)'s problems are trivialized through cooperation with an incredibly friendly Gaia. So if he has a problem it's probably going to be resolved in the same chapter and even within the same part. It also puts the grinding in the background, because writing about _grinding_ of all things is padding. And I don't want to subject you all or myself to that. That said, I will try to make tangential references to the slaves when it's necessary. Just know that from here on out Daichi(?) is constantly getting stronger every day at a rapid clip. As expected of a chosen of a _Primordial._**

 **Enough about that. How about those other POVs? If I do a POV switch it will usually be centered on Reya and Sona. Issei was... Well... He was a bonus. And the perfect way to show how this particular universe diverges from canon. And there are uh... A number of changes I've made. I can only hope you like those as well. Back to the girls. I don't think I've done a good enough job of showing that they've been compromised by Charming Aura. Intent increases effectiveness of the skill (another thing that I've failed to imply, I think) and you have two guesses as to who Daichi(?) is attracted to.**

Okay! If I keep on going I'll end up doubling the length of this chapter by padding it with _complaints_. Time for reviews. Which reminds me. Please review! I want to respond to your comments. In a totally platonic way.

 **MysticSpider: Of course! They're in the Fighter tab. And I read your review when I was writing Part 3, so I decided to use those skills. I think I have failed your expectations, but I will try to make it up in the future!**

 **Raven: I'm not going to give this story up! But I thank you for the positive reinforcement regardless!**

 **Ashzaroth: I have to admit that the first chapter was written on spontaneity. You could even say that the first parts of chapter 1 reflect that. I'll fix it eventually, but for now I'll leave the chapter as is so I can focus on future chapters instead of mucking about in the past ones. As for Gaia (which is why I'm so excited to respond to your review, is that weird? It's not weird)... The love thing was also spontaneous, but it's now a plot point. It has major ramifications in the future and I won't spoil that.**

 **And to everyone else who reviewed with some variation of 'good start' or something like that: You should comment on this chapter to. In a completely platonic way.  
**

* * *

 **What could've been (and not been) in this chapter:  
Reya chasing after Daichi(?) during lunch and subsequently enjoying one of his two riceballs (hahaha).  
Sona giving Reya a mission to somehow convince Daichi(?) to join the Peerage. There are some shades of this, but my initial planning involved seduction. Sorta.  
Reya inviting herself over to Daichi(?)'s place for dinner and falling deeper in love with his cooking, and him by association. I thought it was way too early and out of character to involve such intimacy. Maybe next time.  
Issei not dying was a total surprise for me. Why he didn't die... You'll have to find out uh... Within 3 chapters maybe? Probably less than that.**


	4. 1-1 Unusual Circumstances

**1-1 Unusual Circumstances**

Kuoh Town. It was rather large for a place called a Town, just barely reaching a population size on the level of a small City. Kuoh is naturally isolated from anywhere else in Japan thanks to being built in the midst of the Akaishi Mountains; somewhere between Shizuoka and Nagano Prefecture. This natural isolation did not stop Kuoh from enjoying amenities from the modern world. In the beginnings of Kuoh's planning, extensive funding was set aside to build underground lines that would connect the town to the Shizuoka and Mikawa-Anjo Stations of the Tokaido Shinkansen. This allowed for Kuoh to remain in touch with the rest of Japan.

If you asked someone who lived outside of Kuoh what they thought about it, they'd probably tell you that it was a place where the best and brightest lived; a place where some would give their firstborn child just to have a chance at living there. A place where you could get the best education from preschool to university, and where you could find the hottest women around (which actually mattered to quite a _lot_ of people, go figure). It was clear to the outsiders looking in that Kuoh was no ordinary place. And it really wasn't.

The planning behind Kuoh was sanctioned by Japan's Shinto pantheon and Youkai faction, led by Lady Amaterasu and Lady Yasaka respectively. The territory is on loan from them to the Devils of the Abrahamic religions, so that the Underworlders could coalesce talent in a single place to ease the struggles of young Devils looking for the perfect members for their Peerages. That was the idea on paper, anyway. Nowadays you could hear mumblings amongst the Devils that Kuoh was really set up for the sake of one Rias Gremory because her older brother—and one of the four leaders of Devilkind—loves her a little _too_ much.

Regardless of who you ask, Kuoh at the end of the day is still a place where talent is gathered. Sometimes, however, less than _ideal_ individuals would end up living in Kuoh proper. One such example can be found in a young man by the name of Daichi Takahashi.

Daichi was someone descended from new money. His parents were investors with a keen insight on trends, individually allowing themselves to ascending from middling social status. They met one night during a party, and that one night was more than enough to spawn Daichi out of wedlock. His parents married soon after and moved to Kuoh where the three lived happily. Daichi's parents tried to give him the world—which didn't take much all things considered, just good food—and so he generally grew up without knowing want.

When Daichi was in the last year of middle school, tragedy struck the Takahashi. Returning from an evening date to rekindle their passion for one another, Genzo and Aoi Takahashi became the latest victims in a string of murders perpetrated by a Stray Devil. All that remained of Daichi's parents were their wedding rings, identified by the names inscribed on the inside.

The happy household was no more.

In order to not succumb to the pressures of living life without a family, Daichi clung to his studies like a ghost possessed. His father always chided him to at least try to achieve a higher standard, even though both knew that Daichi was not exactly gifted with smarts. Still, Daichi gave himself the task of being the best academically. It was his own way of coping.

Friendships and health fell to the wayside as Daichi slowly climbed the rankings in his middle school. By the end of year, Daichi was in the top five-percent and was personally given a scholarship to Kuoh Academy—which was to be co-ed in the next academic year and was considered to be the _best_ elevator school in the area—by its headmaster, Zeoticus Gremory. Daichi took the scholarship without batting an eye. He didn't entertain any hopes of interacting with the beauties that were known to attend, he cared more about the quality of education.

Things gradually became worse for Daichi during his first year in Kuoh Academy. Bullying. Daichi never learned of the reason, he only knew that he was reviled for simply being. At first it was easy to ignore, the occasional shove and heckling about his appearance or smell. Then someone found out about his parents and used _that_ against him. When he finally snapped, in a place with just him and his bullies, it was so easy to bring him down. The incident only gave his tormentors more reasons to torment him. And having long forgotten how to ask for help, Daichi merely endured. Withdrawing into himself even more.

There came a point where Daichi could no longer endure. At 3:30 AM, one week after the start of his second year at Kuoh Academy, Daichi Takahashi hung himself in his bedroom. He died from asphyxiation and trauma to the neck in a couple of minutes.

Even though Daichi died, his story did not end there.

As for the body?

With Daichi's death the world slowed to a crawl within his bedroom. Then suddenly, against all odds, life returned to his body. It panicked for air. Both hands automatically reached for the noose, trying to relieve pressure from the much-abused windpipe. Legs and body writhed erratically, a natural response to being strung on a rope.

The struggle only lasted for a scant few seconds, unnatural strength never present within Daichi before ripped the rope into strands, his body kissing the floor moments later.

"Fucking hell!" Came a grunt once proper breathing was worked out. It was spoken in Daichi's voice but in a tone _unlike_ his. "What in the world happened… Wait, why am I the one talking? And why do we sound like a male… Oh shit."

"…We're in _your_ room? In _your_ body?"

"…Fuck."

[-]

Death was supposed to be routine for Charles Wilken, the self-proclaimed handsomest third of the anomaly that is the Milletian. So, when he awoke from being strangled, he automatically panicked with a significant amount of force. Strength refined during their time as the Milletian made swift work of the rope, dropping their collective body down onto the ground.

 _"Charles! Are you alright?"_

 _"What just happened, our revivals aren't supposed to start with getting strangled first thing!"_

" _I don't know but—_ Fucking hell!" Charles grunted aloud, not at first realizing the significance of said action.

"What in the world happened…" A pause. "Wait, why am I the one talking? And why do we sound like a male…"

Charles opened his—relatively speaking—eyes. Ignoring the rope that dangled from the ceiling, he scanned the distinctly _alien_ room he was in. It wasn't a place he recognized as belonging to Erinn, they weren't far enough technologically to have _dry wall_ and _computers_ as part of everyday living. The room was incredibly bare, only having a bed, a desk, and a desktop computer that had a rather futuristic feel to it. Not too bad for a room, every clean. What mattered wasn't the room though, it was what Charles saw when he looked down. A body that was a _lot_ rounder and a _lot_ less female than he remembered.

"Oh shit. _Lysanna, did you change our body into that of a male? And_ why _make it fat of all things?_ "

 _"I didn't do shit! You very well know that if I wanted a cock to play with I'd rebirth us into a hermaphrodite! Anyway. I know about as much as you regarding the situation, something weird happened between our fight with Macha and now… We'll figure this out, like we always do… What do you think Daichi? …Daichi!"_

 _"…Huh? Oh! Sorry. It's just that… The current scene looks rather familiar. It's on the tip of my tongue… No way. NO WAY."_

 _"What? What is it?"_

 _"What's the day and time? Check on the computer!"_

Charles did so without question, an idea already forming in the back of his mind about the significance of Daichi's panic. The short walk to the computer was slightly complicated by a weight distribution that Charles was unused to, but thankfully no complications arose in those five steps other than a slight wobble. He powered on the computer. It took a couple of moments for the OS to boot up. The screen flickered from black to a bright orange password entry screen, the top right corner showed the date and time.

Monday, April 14, 2014. 3:35 AM.

 _"…But how? We should've gone back to the Soul Stream... Was it Caliburn that did this? Or did Erinn reject us? Ugh, this is confusing!"_

 _"Talk to us Daichi, we need you to tell us what's going on."_

 _"This is_ my _room, we're in_ my _body_ , _and_ today _is the day I died for the first time before the whole Milletian thing happened."_

"…We're in _your_ room? In _your_ body?" Charles automatically voiced out, his control over Daichi's body was not exactly perfect at the moment. _"Well… As much as this doesn't make sense it'd probably do us no good to dwell over the_ how _and_ why. _"_

 _"I'll second that motion, so what do we next? Any ideas Lysanna, Charles?"_

 _"I think I'll defer to Charles for this one, boys. Didn't you make a racket some time ago about how Daichi's world was fiction in yours? Just like Erinn?"_

 _"…I refuse to believe that the light of my life is actually a Devil."_

 _"Shush you, now that we're back in your world—for whatever reason—I get to actually prove it to you. But yeah, this place was a story in my world. A harem comedy that was centered around a perverted idiot that had a draconic artifact that allowed him to double his power every ten seconds. You'll probably remember him Daichi, Issei Hyoudou. Just like with Macha, however, there's no guarantee that events will play out one-to-one in real life compared to my memories."_

 _"…Still not a Devil. And don't remind me about that idiot. Ugh."_

 _"Let's ignore Daichi for now, what do we need to be aware of in the immediate future?"_

 _"It's been a long time since I've read the series, so it's hard to say. I'm confident in my knowledge of events up to around volume twelve, but beyond that it gets patchy. Thankfully, Daichi was classmates with his so-called_ light of his life, _and that puts us somewhere just before the start of events in the story._

 _And that means there should be a contingent of Fallen Angels holed up in an abandoned church somewhere around Kuoh. We'll be wanting to get some eyes on them just in case things develop against expectations. Since Daichi is still a student enrolled in Kuoh Academy, we'll probably have to deal with Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri eventually. Most likely Sona first because of Daichi's particular leanings."_

 _"Why them?"_

 _"The main reason is proximity. They're in control of Kuoh, and we live in it. And Daichi is still a part of Kuoh Academy's student body. There's also the fact that both Rias and Sona are pretty important in the Underworld. Devilkind is ruled by the four Maou titled Satan, Leviathan, Asmodeus, and Beelzebub. Rias is the younger sister of the current Satan. Sona, the current Leviathan. Thanks to certain laws in place, the younger sisters can't take advantage of their elder siblings' status, but knowledge of that relation extends a sort of protection to them… A protection that we could potentially make use of if we ingratiate ourselves to either Rias or Sona."_

 _"Do we need to? I can still feel that all of the power we've accumulated back on Erinn is still available to us, I think we can stand on our own."_

 _"You mean we_ might _be able to stand on our own, Lysanna. Even with Charles' memories I'm reluctant to believe that my seniors are something more than human… But if they are, and they are as important as Charles says they are, then I say it's a good idea to associate with them so that we have a better idea of what we're getting in to."_

 _"Oh fine. As long as there's some good fights to be had."_

 _"So we're in accord? If there's nothing—"_

Before Charles could finish that thought, a strange blue screen appeared in their line of sight.

 **(´o ω o`)  
Hey!  
What about me?  
Don't I get to say something too?**

 _"The hell is this?"_

 _"What the… You're the one in the know, do you know what the heck this is Charles?"_

Charles knew very _well_ what the blue screen symbolized. It was a manifestation of the Gamer ability, from a comic of the same name, yet another thing that Charles had squirreled away in the depths of his memories as a youth. It was supposedly an ability granted by Gaia that bent local reality in order to fit the theme of living life as a video game. The question was, why _them_ and why _here_?

 _"This can't be real… You gotta be shitting me."_

 **Rude.  
If you're real, then why can't I be real?  
You can't deny me!  
I'll be with all of you forever!  
Hehe.**

"…Fuck."

* * *

 **A/N: Actual exposition and some hints at the dynamic between the Milletian trio. If you read this and look back on the old chapters (which again, are going to remain for the sake of comparing old and new content), you'll probably come to the realization that Charles was the first person narrator in them. If you haven't realized that, now you know. I also want to apologize to those who were hoping for more of the shattered psyche thing that was going on in the old chapters, there might be more of that as the trio gets used to a body that's not entirely theirs (there is a distinction), but I'm not sure. We'll have to see once I get caught up with the content in the old chapters.**

 **Also in this chapter is the intrusion of Gaia in the affairs of her chosen, we'll be seeing more of her in the future as she's here to stay. I'm also quite happy with how many of you seem to appreciate my treating Gaia as an actual person and making her relevant to the story. The incredibly beautiful and nice smelling Mother of All Life also gives her thanks.**

 **There were a couple of reviews asking about harems. This is a harem story yes, but I won't be giving any clues as to who is included beyond Sona and Reya. Because I really like them and they'll probably be getting almost as much screen time as the Milletian trio.**

 **Well, that's all I have to say I think. Please review and what not. Reader interaction really gets me going.**


	5. 1-2 Adjustments

**1-2 Adjustments**

"Okay… _Charles looks like he's about to lose his mind, so how about we all take a step back and allow our, uh, guest to introduce itself."_

 **Sure!  
Behold my splendor!**

Another blue screen appeared beside the first. It had no text, only a picture of the planet Earth.

 _"Looks like Earth to me…"_

 _"I don't get—Oh! Gaia, you're Gaia, aren't you?"_

 _"She is."_

 **Yep.  
The one, the only…  
Magnanimous and Beautiful Mother of All Life!  
And you, my Wondrous Soul…  
Have been chosen to represent me in all things great!**

The Milletian trio digested the rather campy message in front of them, ignoring the trumpeting fanfare that played out of nowhere. Lisa—or rather, Lysanna—chortled at how excitable the entity behind the blue screens seemed. She was willing to try associating with this Gaia, which was rather typical of Lysanna. Besides, representing an entity that gave out powers—according to Charles' memories of a _certain_ piece of fiction—sounded pretty awesome. Lysanna was always up for more power.

Daichi, on the other hand, always seemed to live life completely out of his depth. It was like that in his first life, in his time as a part of the Milletian, and it was certainly like that at the moment. He always erred on the side of caution when it came down to it and was leery at being made a representative of someone that he didn't know about.

Then there was Charles, the one who absolutely hated coincidences because they often smelled like the interference of some higher power. Like right now. If he was counting correctly, then this would be the _third_ time something fictitious in his memories turned out to be _real_ through multiverse bullshit. The first was immediately after being reborn as the Milletian. Second was when the trio learned how to share memories with each other. Learning that Daichi came from the High School DxD universe definitely threw him for a loop. And of course, the third goes without saying.

As much as Charles wanted to bitch and moan about it, there was nothing he could do about it. Gaia, as far as he knew, was well beyond any deity back on Erinn. And that goes for the deities here in Daichi's world as well. Common sense told him that being belligerent towards someone that could _intrude_ on their shared mindscape was typically a bad idea.

 _No choice but to grit my teeth and deal with it,_ he ultimately decided. Charles didn't like it and he would be instantly ready to protect his _family_ if things went pear-shaped.

 _"I'm not going to entertain the idea that we have_ any _choice in the matter, so how about we skip ahead to the_ why. _"_

 **Hmm…  
Would you believe me if I said that it was to save your life?**

 _"Not really."_

 _"Ignore him. He's just mad about reality. If we take what you said at face value, then something must have happened when our soul transferred from Erinn to here."_

 _"I wonder why we're here anyway… Nice to be home and all but I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we're_ here _and not on Erinn."_

 **Something did happen.  
You crossed the Dimensional Gap!  
That place is perilous to anything ill equipped to its nature.  
Even for such a Wondrous Soul like yourself.**

 _"As for why we're here?"_

 **I'm… Not sure.  
Your Record doesn't show the reason.  
It stopped after your latest death, and then started again when you arrived here.  
How strange!  
Something to look into I'm sure.**

 _"Uh… Record?"_

 **Yes, Record.  
All of Life is under my purview.  
Their experiences, their everything is recorded onto their souls.  
And when they die, that knowledge is bequeathed to me.  
And of course, I can take a peek into someone's Record while they're still alive.  
Like what I'm doing with you!**

 _"That's kind of creepy. So, you're like a super-voyeur then?"_

 **Rude!  
I am not a voyeur at all!  
Even if… Even if it really sounds like it!**

 _"Nah it's cool. We got used to having no privacy. Shared body and all that."_

 _"Moving on. Can you explain how you've saved our life?"_

 **I bonded you to me of course!  
I'm pretty awesome y'know?  
It was tricky healing the cracks in your soul, but I if I didn't…  
You would have dissolved into non-existence.  
So, praise me!**

 _"Uh… Seriously?"_

 _"I think she's serious. Uh… Who's a good girl? Yes, you are, yes you are…?"_

 _"What the fuck are you doing Lysanna? She's a primordial manifestation of Life itself! Not a puppy!"_

 _"Get off my ass, what was I supposed to say!"_

 _"Not whatever you just did, that's for sure! What if she gets mad?"_

 **…  
Aww~  
You really think I'm a good girl?  
I'm so happy~!**

 _"What."_

 _"…I give up."_

 _"Hah! Take that you suckers! This is a win for Lysanna!"_

 _"Yeah, yeah. So, Gaia, what does it mean to be bonded to you? And how do we, ahem, represent you in all things great?"_

 **I'm a good girl, good girl~  
Mm? Oh!  
I made an instruction manual for your new powers, y'know?  
Just yell or think [HELP] and you'll get a nice handy guide on how to do stuff.  
I could just explain it myself but I don't want seconds of labor to go to waste.  
Which means you have to use it!  
As for the whole Representing thing…  
You can do whatever, really.**

 _"Is… Is it okay to say something like that? That sounds irresponsible…"_

 **It is what it is.  
Do whatever you feel like, really.  
Just have fun!**

 _"Fun…? Hey guys, did we ever have fun as the Milletian?"_

 _"Probably in the beginning maybe, before things started escalating into one world ending threat after the other. So, that was what… Decades ago for us?"_

 _"Which means that we have decades of enjoyment to make up for! Where do we start, boys?"_

[-]

 _Oh, come on! I thought I had it right this time… Maybe I need to pull in a different set of skills to make this work?_ Deep underground was a basement level that looked right at home with a mage's workshop. The walls were inundated with runic scriptures meant to reinforce them, as well as contain any magical mishaps. Several tables lined these walls and were either covered in artifacts and reagents or high precision machinery. An intricate transmutation circle was carved into the center of the room, lines filled with enchanted silver. And on top of this circle was an object that had a passing resemblance to a high-caliber sniper rifle. Passing, as in, it didn't look like the ideal rifle at all.

A tall, Caucasian male pondered over his latest failure. He stood tall at 6'4" and could be seen wearing a three-piece suit dyed completely black, perfectly tailored to fit his wiry frame. Curly auburn hair hid the creases in his forehead as he stared at the disproportioned object with gray eyes. This was Charles, having reconstructed—using an ability that is inherent to the Milletian race—Daichi's body into his preferred appearance. This would have been incredibly callous of him, if he had not already given the other two bodies of their own.

Two days ago, Charles used their Doppelganger skill to create additional bodies for his soulmates. Doppelganger was actually based on certain properties of the Soul Stream, in that the soul was used as a template to create a body. A regular Doppelganger back on Erinn was produced using spirit energy, a sort of energy that is freely given by a soul. Due to the unstable and transient nature of spirit energy, such clones would immediately dispel after delivering a hit. As the Milletian was in possession of a rather flexible soul, they could split themselves in three and used the two freed portions as stable anchors for the Doppelganger bodies. It allowed for trio a semblance of independence from one another, though there was a range limitation of about ten miles in radius before the souls 'snapped' back together.

Back to the workshop.

The workshop itself was a consequence of experimenting with the variant Gamer ability that they possessed. Levels, skills, and stats worked differently. There was _no_ stat gaining through training or leveling skills, nor could you gain skills normally. The only way to gain stat points through this variant was to level up, which would then award six stat points to be divided into any of the six stats: Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, and Will.

These stats could be described as follows: Strength was the expression of physical force. Vitality was the counterpart to Strength, expressing physical endurance. Intelligence and Wisdom were the magical versions of Strength and Vitality, respectively. Intelligence had the additional benefit of increasing information recall, and Wisdom, decision making. Dexterity increased the flexibility and speed of both mind _and_ body. Will, or Willpower, was a stat that corresponded to one's ability to impose their will onto the world. It's essentially charisma and local reality bending rolled into one.

In a normal game—or even normal Gamer ability—adding a stat point to any of the six above stats would be an incremental increase of overall strength. For the Milletian, however, one stat point is a force multiplier. For example, six points into Strength would multiply the Milletian's strength by six times.

Skills were tied to the Milletian's Level. Gaia, Mother of All Life, was an existence that held the collective knowledge, skills, and experiences of every single living being that has existed thus far. Limited access to the Library, as it's called, made up a significant portion of the skill system. With fifteen initial slots—plus one for each additional level—the Milletian could fill these slots with skills held within the Library. The gained skills could remain for any amount of time, and could be regained freely if returned for any reason.

In the words of Charles, "So we're basically a better Eidolon, great."

On the subject of Charles, it was with his five slots—the trio always shared equally amongst themselves—that he built several levels underneath casa Takahashi for the purposes of transforming the home into a veritable fortress hidden in a suburban area. Said slots were filled with different classes of Construction Magic that was pioneered by some German mage by the name of Walter Gropius.

Ten underground levels and an elevator made up the expanded basement of the Takahashi home. The first seven were empty, while the last three were used as lab spaces for Lysanna, Daichi, and Charles in that order. Lysanna used her space as a forge, Daichi's was for researching into the arcane, and Charles' was dedicated to pursuits in Alchemy and Engineering.

 _"Hey Daichi."_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Free to come down for a bit?"_

 _"Sure, give me a moment."_

A moment later Daichi appeared. Like Charles—as well as Lysanna—Daichi restructured his Doppelganger body to his ideal appearance. Said appearance was one _mountain_ of a man. He took his youthful obesity turn it on its head by replacing all the fat with corded muscle. He wore an olive colored yukata that was open at the chest to display his testament to manliness across the world.

"Why do you—Ah. The Panoptes Rifle, right?" Daichi nodded towards the caricature of a sniper rifle on the floor, "What'd you fill your slots with again?"

"Transmutation, Design, Metallurgy, Miniaturization, and Arithmetic," Charles replied without missing a beat.

"Nothing analytical?" Charles shook his head, "Hah… You probably should've slotted one in then; you would have realized that the cores are interfering with the transmutation ritual. Hell, you could've realized that without an analytical skill slotted in."

"…You're right. Shortsightedness seriously sucks, I could've been done hours ago! Alright, hold on…" Daichi watched his soul-brother mercilessly kick away the failed Panoptes Rifle then went to gather the requisite materials for the contraption off a table. The Panoptes was a weapon designed by the both of them while they were on Erinn. When the Giants invented guns that used mana bullets, the two men wanted to one up them with an even better gun.

In essence, the Panoptes Sniper Rifle was an intent-based weapon that would release one-hundred bursts of mana in one shot. These bursts would divide themselves evenly based on the number of targets and persistently track them with tight turning radii. The body of the weapon was built from mithril, a magic-conductive material that is as robust as titanium even if drawn into a thin wire. Surprisingly, the mythical metal was endemic to both Erinn and here. Two cores of crystallized mana powered the weapon. One was used to empower the runes that gave an enhanced sensory suite to the user, the other, more expendable core was used as the ammo. One core per shot, this was the largest drawback of the weapon, but it's not like they couldn't just prepare thousands of mana cores beforehand.

"Okay, good to go!" Daichi was brought out of his reverie by a much more energetic Charles. The transmutation circle now had a block of mithril sitting atop of it. Floating above the circle was a suspended runic matrix that was responsible for the weapon's functions. The moment that the chassis was transmuted, the matrix would be grafted onto the weapon instantly. "Had to readjust the design slightly so that the core for the runes is also interchangeable… Alright, three, two, one—!"

Charles channeled a burst of mana into the circle. A flashflood of light ate up the entire room and was gone the next moment. In its place, the complete Panoptes Sniper Rifle sans mana cores.

 **Transmutation Production Success!  
You have made the AA-Class Panoptes Sniper Rifle Mk. I!  
A weapon of wholesale slaughter designed by men who have a little too much time and power on their hands…  
** ** _Men_** **.**

"Shush Gaia, you wouldn't understand…" Daichi nodded alongside Charles, marveling at the beautiful weapon before them. Both ignored the message screen that had a text animation of rolling eyes on it.

"Charles… What do we name him?"

"I'm thinking… Simo."

"Sounds good, let's test him out. Like, right _now_."

"Yeah… But where?"

 **Boys, boys, boys.  
I believe ****_I_** **may have the solution.**

 **Quest Alert — These Strays Ain't Goin' Home  
A squad of Stray Devils are currently on their way to Kuoh from the south. The presence of two Heiresses and the general quality of the populace in Kuoh makes the location a tempting hunting ground for such groups of Strays. They'll arrive sometime in the evening. At least ****_try_** **to show some mercy?**

 **Reward: +1000 EXP, ?**

 _"Hey guys, did you also get the quest?"_

 _"Yeah, we got it because the Panoptes is finished and we're itching to test him out."_

 _"Really? What are you lugs waiting for then? We gotta stake out to do!"_

Rest in pieces, Strays.

* * *

 **A/N: Simo the Panoptes Sniper Rifle came out of nowhere. But he's here to stay. Gaia... Uh... Gaia might sometimes appear to be an idiot or wants to be told that she's a _Good Girl_ , but let's not forget that she's also ageless and can be serious when it comes down to it. (Let's also not forget that she _absolutely_ is a super-voyeur)**

 **If you're familiar with _Worm_ , then you already understand a good portion of how the Milletian's Gamer variant works. But I'll summarize it anyway: Skills can be 'assigned' to slots. There are a limited number of slots (15 to start) but grow in number as the Milletian levels. These slots can be shared between the trio. The Skills are 'pulled' from the Library, where the Records of all that has lived is stored (The Library is really a part of Gaia, but it's probably more convenient to thing of the two as separate things). These Skills are the crystallized essence of the knowledge and experience of an untold number of living beings as well as the means for the Milletian trio to emulate said knowledge and experience (What a mouthful).**

 **The whole 'stats are a force multiplier' thing for the Milletian is hopefully a subtle enough way of me saying that Gaia is really, really strong. I'm still thinking of a way to work in stats for other characters (which is expressed in regular increments, and not multipliers) without making it a bloody chore to keep track of. We'll see.**

 **Oh yeah. Two days have passed in this chapter... Uh, whole why they didn't go to school thing will be addressed next chapter. Unofficially, the reason is because they were learning how to have fun again. Take that as you will.**

 **Now for reviews:**

 **newtonian: This is a question that I knew was going to be asked, but now that I'm seeing it I don't know if my explanation will be good enough to satisfy readers. Basically, even in the old version, the trio existed in some form. In the old version, Lysanna 'died' after the battle with Macha, Daichi 'shattered' while going across the Dimensional Gap, and Charles was left with parts of his memory missing, particularly those of his time on Erinn. As I thought about how to make the story better (an eternal process and one that constantly plagues me, I suppose), I became upset with how I had these two characters whose repercussions on the story wouldn't make sense until miles down the road (this is especially true of Lysanna in the older version, not much so for Daichi). And so this time around I kept the trio whole. I'm not really happy with this answer (sorry) because it basically boils down to: I felt like it.**

 **FinalKingdomHearts: Yep. I am indeed rewriting this story and I hope by now this has been made abundantly clear. Even so, I hope you find this revision enjoyable!**

 **MKaius: I live for reviews like yours. And yes, Gaia is still here! You should probably tell her that she's a good girl and then pet her head (or... like a potted plant or something, that should work...).**

 **Raven: Thanks! Hopefully I can maintain your curiosity for a little while longer.**

 **To everyone else: Thank you for reading thus far and please review!**


	6. 1-3 Mind Reader

**1-3 Mind Reader**

'So he didn't come after all…' A soft sigh escaped the lips of one Reya Kusaka as she left classroom 2-C. The normally kind and pleasant young woman was distinctly unhappy and couldn't get over the feeling of apprehension welling up in her chest. It was because of Daichi Takahashi, her self-appointed academic rival. Even though she thought of him as such, the two of them never spoke a single word to one another. Daichi, because he was usually a nervous wreck around women up close and Reya, because she didn't know how to converse with someone so withdrawn. It was no secret that Daichi was the most anti-social student of their year. Not even the boisterous Pervert Trio, known for transcending all sorts of social barriers to the consternation of many women, could break through the walls that Daichi put around himself.

Still, it was his presence more than any other that brought out a severe competitive streak within Reya. For high grade point averages, that is. And now that rival of hers had been gone for 3 days, too soon into the school year, without a reason. So, the story went, but she knew the reason.

Roughly a year ago, Reya was recruited by Sona Sitri, under her guise as Souna Shitori, into both the Student Council and her Peerage due to high magical potential. Reya was reincarnated as a Bishop, which unlocked said potential and bolstered it. Her true value came into play when it was discovered she had a strong affinity to mental magics. One of the rarest of magical alignments that one could have, second only to soul magic.

There were many times in Kuoh where the public had to have their memories rewritten due to a nearby supernatural event. While her Devil friends had to rely on a limited array of template spells provided by the Underworld government to hide away the supernatural, all Reya needed to do was exert her mind. And that was not even the limit of Reya's talent in mental manipulation. She found that she could easily slip pass the mental barriers of her peers, her master even, and touch upon the core of their personalities… And if she dared to, _twist_ them into different personalities—permanently. The cognitive dissonance had frightened her so badly that she swore off on using her talents unless it was an emergency and switched her studies in magic to that of barriers and wards, which was Momo's talent.

She stuck to her oath for over half a year until she felt compelled to break it yesterday, and broke it today. The Evil Piece within her soul did many things aside from increasing her mana pool and the efficiency of her spells. It also slowly adapted her physiology so that it was more human than devil, and as the change came closer to completion, traits specific to devils rose to the surface. During the spring break, she was granted a weak empathic sense. She couldn't sense the subtler emotions like a highborn could, but when emotions rolled off the body like waves, it was hard to _not_ sense them. They had the subtlety of a boot to the head.

And it was with this sense that she noticed that a significant proportion of her classmates were _happy_ that Daichi was gone for the second day in a row. No one had said anything about it, instead turning to mundane conversation topics. But that did little to hide the satisfaction in their tones. When everyone shuffled into class in the morning and once again saw the empty desk that belonged to Daichi, it was as if a dam broke. 'Gone for good is he,' 'I wonder if the fat bastard offed himself, now I won't have to look at such an eyesore when I look at the board,' 'This must surely be divine punishment,' and the like were muttered under the breaths of the _sinners_. And Reya, with Evil Piece enhanced hearing, heard it all.

To say she was livid… Would be an understatement.

Reya shattered her oath with full force, scanned the memories of all her classmates, and found that she needed all of her self-control to not render almost everyone into a vegetative state. Even if they, in her opinion, absolutely deserved it. What she saw in those memories was a systematic attempt to destroy Daichi Takahashi as a person. Why? Because he was, in their eyes, morbidly obese and thus a blight on the reputation of Kuoh Academy. It was such an inane reason, but that was all they needed.

When Reya had enough of the memories skirting her mind, she shifted her power, intending to mete out punishments worthy of the crime. For those intimately involved Daichi, she rewrote their entire personalities, _murdering_ their old selves. And while it sounded incredibly petty, she had also inserted into these new personalities a handful of debilitating phobias. For those that were complicit to a lesser degree, but involved all the same, she removed the memories of any bullying and had it so that they were missing _something_ and that nothing they did could ever fill that void. And for those who were only tangentially aware of what was going on, she merely removed any knowledge of Daichi's torment. With all of that done, she extended her power to surround the high school grounds and made subtle changes to the student population so that her overt changes were consistent.

By lunch time she had finished her work, and was now making her way to the Student Council room. Her master had definitely noticed Reya using her magic and she would be expecting an explanation. Maybe even punish Reya for the severity of her actions, but that wasn't much of a concern at all.

'I wonder if President has Takahashi-san's records… I have to see if he's okay.'

[-]

"Reya-san, come in quickly, we need to discuss your… judicious use of magic during school hours." As soon as Reya entered the well-furbished Student Council room she was immediately confronted by her King, Sona Sitri. Sona stood about as tall Reya, but cut a more imposing figure. The slim woman had a bob cut of raven hair that framed brilliant violet eyes. A frown constantly adorned her face, as if there was something not meeting her standards. Her severe looks did not detract from her Devil inherited beauty, enhancing it instead.

Tsubaki Shinra, Vice President and Queen of the Peerage, hovered behind Sona. Tsubaki stood half a head taller than Sona. Her long, straight black hair extended all the way down to the knees. Split bangs rested over a peculiar case of heterochromia, a left amethyst eye and a right brown eye. In front of the disparate eyes were square half frame glasses. Aside from Reya, the other two women were the only ones in the Council room.

"Yes, Kaichou," Reya responded, her head tilting downward in subservience. While she wanted to know Sona's thoughts—at least in terms of how much in trouble she was—she did not feel her way into her King's mind, out of respect for the woman. Besides, the emphatic bond between the Evil Pieces and their King made Sona aware of the actions of her Peerage almost at all times. It would be easy for the heiress to know if Reya was skulking about in her mind.

"Let's hear it then," said Sona. A bit of frost could be felt in her voice. Tsubaki—who had a sense of dramatics—adjusted her glasses, making them somehow glint intimidatingly even though she was facing away from any windows in the room. Reya thought it was a bit silly, but she did her part anyway by looking sufficiently cowed by the duo. It was easy enough to do when you had a pleasantly soft countenance like Reya's.

"I dealt with some _bullies_ ," the word was almost spat out. It was not secret to the Student Council that Reya had a severe distaste for bullies, as she was once the target of petty jealousies during middle school. Even the slightest mention of bullying was enough to make Reya's mood turn on a dime.

Sona raised an eyebrow, an indication to elaborate, "Do you know of Daichi Takahashi-san?"

The heiress nodded, she knew about _all_ of the students in the high school section. A part of Sona's appeal amongst the student population was that she knew everybody's name. Just that fact made her more approachable than the Great Ladies of Kuoh, even though Sona was well-regarded as a no-nonsense person. Daichi Takahashi, in particular, briefly held some interest to Sona in the past.

A couple of years ago, a Stray Devil had made its way to Kuoh and began a string of murders. It was a particularly powerful Stray, able to elude destruction at every turn all while racking up victims in the double digits. It took several coordinated attempts between Rias' and Sona's Peerages before the Stray could be executed. Unfortunately, some of the victims had immediate family members bereft of loved ones. Daichi was one such person.

Daichi's academic performance after his parents' death gave enough pause for Sona to consider giving him a position in her Peerage. In most cases, academics was the starting point for Sona's recruitment strategy. Academics wasn't everything, though, and when she saw him in person, she was left wanting. The young man only had the desperate drive to succeed in his studies, nothing else. Daichi was empty.

"He was the one being bullied," Reya supplied, "It sounds unlikely, considering that we've been using our empathic senses to clamp down on anything resembling bullying… However, they were able to trick my— _our_ —senses by treating their campaign against Takahashi-san as a matter of course. He didn't fit the mold of Kuoh Academy. He wasn't handsome or skinny enough. He just didn't belong. _Inane_ reasons like that was more than enough to convince seventeen of my classmates that Takahashi-san needed to be _removed_ somehow."

She took a breath, "And the best part? The best part was that it happened right under my nose! I could've helped Takahashi-san from the beginning. I had always known that Takahashi-san was suffering because of losing his parents… But I didn't do a _damn_ thing because I was too afraid to use my magic talents on anyone!"

"I… I see," Sona did her best to not be too perturbed by the manifestation of Wrath in her Bishop. It was at odds with the normally polite and demure Reya. "And I assume that you used your magic to deal with those involved?"

"Yes, Kaichou." Reya took another, shuddering breath. She looked down, a bitter grimace clearly on her face. It was obvious to Sona and Tsubaki that Reya had most likely _rewritten_ entire personalities while enacting her brand of justice. An act that was definitively illegal under Devil law. As a vassal to an heiress of a Pillar family, Reya would be protected from persecution. There's also the fact that nobody really needs to _know_ about what Reya did this morning, which was just fine with Sona. What was _not_ fine with her was Reya acting out without her counsel. There's an order to things, and Sona—as much as she loves her Peerage like family—cannot allow her Pieces to move without her saying so.

"Reya-san. While I understand your bias against oppressors, I do _not_ approve of you using magic without informing me first."

"I apologize Kaichou. It won't happen again."

A brief smile touched Sona's lips, "As long as you understand."

"About Takahashi-san, will be able to check on him after school? He's been absent for a while and I'm worried something might have happened to him."

This time Tsubaki spoke up, "It'll have to wait, Reya-san."

"But—!" A hand stopped Reya from speaking further, "Tsubaki is right, Reya-san. It'll have to wait until at least tomorrow. This morning Rias and I received a missive from Lucifer-sama himself."

"From Lucifer-sama?"

"Yes. We have been informed that a group of Stray Devils who support the old ways have escaped capture in the Underworld and are making their way to Kuoh as we speak. Naturally as the overseers of this territory, Rias and I have the responsibility of removing these threats from our home. Estimates are that this group will arrive at Kuoh in the early evening, but we don't know from which direction.

Rias and her Peerage have already been excused from the rest of their classes in order to run a perimeter around Kuoh. In the meantime, I need you to help coordinate our efforts as I prepare our side for the upcoming conflict. Am I clear on this?"

Reya gulped, then nodded, "What do you need me to do Kaichou?"

"To start you can…" 

* * *

**A/N: First half is from Part 6 of the Old Chapter 1 with minimal adjustments. Second half is an expansion on that scene and was written in a sleepy fugue. Last chapter I said I'd explain the two day gap on the Milletian's side. I lied. Next chapter for sure. I don't know how I feel about the second half, actually. But that's just me, I _never_ feel sure with what I write.  
**

 **I'm sleepy, so I'll just skip to review responses.**

 **MysticSpider: I don't know what you're confused about! You gotta tell me first!**

 **LL: Nice analysis. I have something... Interesting (hopefully) lined up for the whole deal with Fallen Angels. Look forward to it!**

 **Last...Anonymous Prince?: 'Destroyed' is such a strong word. On the other hand, I'm sorry you feel confused and at least told me why you feel that way. I'd also like to argue that the 3-in-1 deal that the Milletian trio has going on is not confusing at all. You can think of them as separate people, as one person, or both things at the same time. Then again, I'm the Author... So there is some bias.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Thanks for the encouragement and... I think you might be onto something about that Gaia/Tobi comparison... Hmm.**

 **To everyone else since the last chapter: Thanks for reviewing!**


	7. 1-4 Intersection

**1-4 Intersection**

Beyond Kuoh's outer limits, where large fields were set aside for future expansion projects, was a massive coniferous forest. A sea of trees as far as the eyes could see, with gentle ripples here and there that came about from the valleys and hills beneath them.

 _"This… Is… Boring! How did you do this for twenty years, Charles?"_

In the south, hidden beneath the undergrowth with assistance from the slotted skills **Forest Camouflage** and **Invisible Nature** was the Milletian in their shared body. After having settled into their ideal appearances, their shared body took on a look that was derived from the three. In their unified form, the Milletian borrowed from Charles' tall and lithe frame, Daichi's musculature, and Lysanna's exotically tanned skin, cropped white hair, and blue eyes. In Charles' words, "We are discount EMIYA."

They lied prone on the forest floor, Simo—the Panoptes Sniper Rifle—was held at the ready, the sensor matrix already linked up to their senses. The matrix created a spherical field of view, centered around the Milletian, whose distance was proportional to the amount of mana invested. With only small animals around, the field was kept small, about one hundred meters in radius.

The trio were guided to the spot they were at via a series of illusory quest markers that only they could see. It was a strange sight to see for the first time—phoning in that their life was even more of a game that it was before—but like with all things, the Milletian got over it quickly. At least now they would have to _try_ to get lost.

 _"I had to. If I didn't, more people would have died. Besides, this was your idea! We could've left half an hour before they arrived, instead of three hours."_

 _"Well… Uh, I got distracted by the proposition of testing out a new weapon. I mean, can you blame me? You two have been designing this thing for years back on Erinn!"_

 _"Yes we can, and we forgive you all the same. By the way, Charles, couldn't we have just left once we realized we were way too early?"_

 _"Nope. Once you find a spot you gotta commit."_

 _"Right…Whatever you say. Gaia, mind telling us the ETA?"_

 **What am I?  
A clock?**

 _"No? You're the one who gave us this quest, shouldn't you inherently know how the players involved in this quest are moving? Surely based on that you can give us an ETA."_

 **Pretty much yeah.  
Just felt like complaining a little bit.  
Teehee.**

Another window appeared with a timer on display. The illusory pane was colored orange, for no reason other than to look different and somewhat more important.

 **ETA  
00:57:51 (HH:MM:SS)**

 _"An hour huh… Well what's another hour after another three? Mm… The sun will have completely set by then. I guess this means that the Strays are going to try to enter Kuoh while it's dark?"_

 _"Do you think that it's stereotypical of Devils to invade during the night? Because they're 'creatures of darkness' and all that?"_

 _"Maybe. I think it might make more sense for them to make a camp just outside of Kuoh."_

 _"Why is that?"_

 _"Oh… Isn't it strange that these Stray Devils are physically making their way here? If Charles' memories have a positive correlation with this reality, then the Devil race should have access to teleportation spells. At any point in time they could have used them to directly place themselves inside of Kuoh, and if not that, then outside of it."_

 _"…But the fact that they haven't means that either there's something in the way or the Devils have a system that tracks spell usage. I get it. When you consider that, and the fact that we've learned about the Stray group hours ago, it's suspicious that they haven't already arrived. So, I suppose they're trying to avoid detection while making their way here. Mm, I wonder if they'll be tired by the time they arrive?"_

 _"That's what I'm thinking. We'll have to see when they're actually here."_

A pause.

 _"So Daichi…"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"When are we going to meet Reya?"_

 _"Why do you have to make that sound like you're my mother who wants to meet my girlfriend? And why ask that now, of all times?"_

 _"We have over fifty minutes of waiting time left to go. I'm bored. And I want to know now."_

 _"Of course you do. But to answer, whenever you guys want. Honestly, with all the power testing were doing plus reconstruction efforts that were going into turning my parents' home into a base put meeting Reya—and all the other Devils—in the back of my mind. Thinking about it now, I'm a little hesitant to go through with meeting them. Reya especially."_

 _"Explain."_

 _"Oh how do I even start… For the longest time, Reya has been my rock, you guys know this. I became attracted to her when my life was going to shit, but I was too afraid to push forward and make something of my feelings. Then I died and ended up joining you two as part of something_ more _. And I don't regret that one bit. What I did regret was never confessing, I suppose. But still, I kept Reya in my heart, even when—at the time—I knew I was never going to see her again. And then one day, we die and we're back in my world._

 _"It was so sudden. And as we spent more time here it dawned on me that Reya was more than a fond memory now. She's real now. And that has me equally excited and dreadful. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Reya again. Now that I've grown and experienced two lifetimes of ordeals, I want to meet with her and actually strike up a conversation with her. I want to get to know her, get in a relationship with her, y'know? I want these feelings that I've preserved for decades to be something more. But… What if she doesn't understand_ us _?"_

 _"Ah… That, yeah. That could happen. But it could also_ not _happen. You gotta be more positive Daichi!"_

 _"I suppose… Though, that's more your shtick than mine."_

The unique circumstances of the Milletian trio made love and commitment tricky. A person couldn't pursue a relationship with just a _part_ of the trio. If one of them fell in love with someone, then the other two soul-siblings would follow soon after. It was a quirk of their solidarity. A person had to accept _all_ of the Milletian. To reject one of them, was the same thing as rejecting all of them. Which often made relationships back on Erinn fall apart as soon as they started the moment the nature of the Milletian's existence came to light.

 _"If I may?"_

 _"Go ahead Charles."_

 _"Fucking calm down and we'll handle this together as we always have. Okay?"_

 _"I—Okay. I'm just worried, y'know? It's like those decades growing up as the Milletian don't matter anymore when I think about her."_

 _"…Hey Daichi?"_

 _"Yeah, Lysanna?"_

 _"Sorry. About this topic."_

 _"It's fine. Let's just get back to the task on hand and deal with this later, alright?"_

 _"I'm down with that, how much time did we waste talking anyway?"_

 **ETA  
00:49:52 (HH:MM:SS)**

 _"Oh come on! That felt more like half an hour! The hell do we do now?"_

 _"We wait."_

They waited.

[-]

Evening.

The Strays were projected to arrive somewhere around Kuoh anytime now. Reya, with assistance from Rias' Peerage, was still hard at work tracking down said Strays. In the meantime, Sona's Peerage was getting ready for the upcoming battle. There always would be a battle when it came to Strays, negotiation almost _never_ worked—especially when dealing with Strays who were far too gone. Which was fine with Sona, they would be made use of. To elevate her latest recruits' combat ability ever closer to her high, but attainable, standards. It would also be their first time dealing with opponents that would kill them if they had the chance.

Ruruko Nimura and Genshirou Saj—the Pawns—were understandably nervous, even now. They had been turned into Devils one after the other just before the start of the school year. A lot of effort when into getting them used to their new lifestyle. This went double for Ruruko who had to learn how to walk again after regaining the use of her legs through the reincarnation ritual. Genshirou, or simply Gen, had an easier time adjusting. He was, after all, doing it for his beloved Student President—his crush openly obvious to everyone. Still, the power of love—or lust depending on how you look at it—was not enough to keep the jitters out of his system. As they waited for the inevitable they sat aside with Tsubaki, listening to the gentle assurances proffered by the motherly Vice President.

Tsubasa Yura—Sona's blue haired Rook—was off to another side of the Student Council room going through stretches one after the other. Her thoughts were not of the fight, but about Koneko instead. The two were fellow rooks and despite Koneko's reticent personality clashing with Tsubasa's sporting, outgoing one they were good friends. They also had at least one common point in beating the shit out of things up front and personal, with their fists. Honestly, Tsubasa thought, they had to hang out more often. Even as she stretched, Tsubasa was planning out a play date with Koneko at the center. Maybe they could hit the arcades, or drop by a gym to hit some bags. It would be fun, she decided.

Tomoe Meguri—the hyperactive and endlessly cheerful Knight—was chatting a mile a minute with Momo Hanakai, Sona's second Bishop. Tomoe never really prepared for fights beforehand, she was always ready to fight in a moment's notice. A sharpened katana waiting to be drawn in the blink of an eye. On the other side of Tomoe's endless chattering was Momo, who hardly seemed to be paying attention at all. Which was fine with Tomoe, she was just wasting time anyway and they both knew that. Besides, Momo had an important job to do. Said job made use of the Bishop's talent in barrier magic, and it was to prepare a Wide Area Barrier that would prevent the Strays from escaping the moment she casted it.

Sona watched over her Peerage with a sense of satisfaction. It was hers from the beginning, built from the ground up without any trickery of any sort. She was confident that she could trust her life in the hands of her older Pieces, and hopefully would soon think the same of Ruruko and Gen.

"…Kaichou." The communicator that Sona wore on her left ear turned on. It was Koneko on the other side.

"Koneko-san, do you have something to report?"

"…Found the Strays, moving to intercept." It was time. The atmosphere in the room instantly shifted. Everyone that was talking quieted down, waiting for the next step in the operation.

"Understood, we'll teleport in as soon as both you and Reya-san stop moving."

"…Alright." The line went dead. Sona felt out her connection to her other Bishop and sensed the Piece to still be moving. Somewhere in the forests south of Kuoh, far enough away from any civilians. With any luck, memory adjustments wouldn't be needed tonight. Sona had strong feelings about such things, but understood the necessity. The entire world would be turned on its head if the supernatural were exposed.

The Peerage wordlessly gathered around Sona. Tsubaki and Momo stood at Sona's sides, a naginata in Tsubaki's hand, the primed barrier spell in Momo's. The other four were in front of them, arrayed in a half circle with Tomoe and Tsubasa as the vanguards. As they waited, their King prepared the mass teleport spell. Reya's piece was steadily slowing down, they'd teleport soon.

"Kaichou," the communicator activated again. This time it was Reya, "We've been spotted by the Strays and they're making their way towards us. Twelve in total."

"We'll teleport immediately. Stay on the defensive." Sona raised her voice, "Momo-san, as soon as finish transitioning, I want that barrier deployed immediately."

"Yes, Kaichou!" Sona nodded and then turned her focus on the spell circle beneath them. It was the mass teleport spell and with a brief thought it activated, bathing the entire group in a blue light. The transition from Kuoh Academy to the town's southern forests was seamless. The group, united with Koneko and Reya, were greeted with a picturesque scene of nature—only that it was marred by the creatures in front of them.

Sona frowned at the sight. 90-percent of Strays tended to be reincarnated humans who were consumed by their Cardinal Sin. Devils, having descended from Demons, were one of several races that were cursed by the Cardinal Sins, the seven Aspects of willful Evil. Power was offered to those who reveled in the Sin that they were aligned to. Of course, such power came at the cost of a warped mind and body. And that was what Sona saw before her. Devils that regressed back into Demons, their bodies warped into chimeric forms that best represented the Sins that they were consumed by.

"Ahh…" The Stray in the front spoke up, unsurprised by the use of a teleportation spell, its voice akin to gravel in a tumbler. Its appearance was just as jarring. A rotund mass of flesh that stood on four stocky legs. The thing was presumably blind, at least until it opened its great maw to reveal a massive tongue lined with eyes and mucus. The Stray was gross, plain and simple. "More Devils to join us. We will feed well tonight, my friends… Oh? I smell a noble amongst them! Tell me my friends, do we know of any nobles around here?"

"The Gremory and Sitri Heiresses!" Exclaimed a Stray covered in chitin armor, its chelicerae chittered excitedly.

"Ahh… This one is not the Gremory, but the Sitri. A little less meat to share, but a noble all the same. This will be a feast!" The Strays giggled madly at the proclamation. They salivated freely at the thought of fresh meat in their stomachs. They would feed tonight; the Leviathan be damned!

Sona barely managed to suppress a shudder. The Strays were not very strong at all, but the atmosphere they had about them exuded _wrongness_. It was uncomfortable to say the least and it had her Peerage—plus Koneko—on edge. Not for very long, however, as the mad giggling was soon replaced with shocking silence.

Before the Sitri Heiress could give the elimination order, a plethora of white beams came from the left. These streamers of deadly light bent at impossible angles to avoid the copious conifer trees in order decimate their targets: The Stray Devils. As soon as the light-speed attack registered, the Strays tried to run away only to be vaporized by a _second_ volley of erratic beams. And that was it. There were no death throes or pleadings for mercy. Just a third entity smiting an entire squad of Strays with clinical precision at and a distance.

Sona was the first to get her wits about her, "Form up around me! I want eyes everywhere! Momo, another barrier to protect us as soon as possible. Koneko, Reya, get me an ID on whoever is behind those lights ASAP, they should still be within the barrier."

The group got to work immediately, most of them putting their efforts into their orders. Gen was having a little bit of trouble _not_ being captivated over bending lasers. Ruruko on the other hand was a little cowed by everything and felt just a bit better when Tsubaki gave her a reassuring nod.

"…No scent. Can't track." Koneko shook her head. Sona turned to Reya, surprised to see the rictus of pain on her Bishop, "I… Feel three minds? One mind? It's all broken and jumbled together, I'm trying to make sense of the structure, but it's there. 211 meters out, close to the ground…"

"Thank you, Reya-san. Keep on working on the identity behind whoever this is." Sona didn't like seeing her Pieces in pain, but the order had to be given. Sona briefly considered retreating only to abandon that idea. The attack from the third party was _instantaneous_ , a wrong move and they would be vaporized before they could even escape.

A second barrier flared to life around them, this one designed to shunt energy attacks away from the origin. The effect tied to the barrier was more energy intensive than the first barrier that Momo erected, but she kept up both without question.

"What should we do now, Kaichou?" Tsubasa asked.

"We wait and give enough time for Reya-san to ascertain if the unknown is a threat to us or not." Sona replied.

"That sucks." Sona didn't agree with the word choice, but did with the sentiment. Situations like these sucked one way or another.

"Unknown is moving towards us…" Reya bit out, alerting the others, "All three? One? Appears to be apologetic about something…"

"…New scent. Male, strong. Coming closer." Koneko pointed in the direction that the unknown was approaching from.

The circle around Reya and Sona became tighter. All of them faced towards where Koneko pointed. Weapons were raised defensively for those who had them—including Gen's Sacred Gear, Absorption Line. For those that didn't, fists were raised instead. Every second felt like a minute as they waited for the stranger to emerge from the forest's shadow. They first heard its footsteps, and then finally, the man himself appeared.

He's handsome, came the errant thought before Sona's professionalism quashed it into the depths of her mind. This time around, she properly appraised the stranger before her group. A lot of his skin was covered in a white, armored bodysuit that left none of his musculature to the imagination. His limbs were the only parts that were actually armored. Matte black interlacing plates that moved along with the body without sound. The man's face was sharp and noble. Skin an exotic tan, with hair an equally exotic white. Blue eyes stared back at them, eerily glowing in the night, but held no antagonism in them. At least as far as Sona could tell.

The rifle that was strapped to his back was of particular interest to Sona. The heavy magical signature that clung to the weapon strongly indicated that it was the object used to kill the Strays. It also indicated that this man was either an Artificer or in favor of one. Artificers tended to turn modern human weapons into powerful magical foci, and the rifle Sona saw certainly was one.

The man stopped some distance in front of Momo's barrier, waiting.

"Reya-san, does he have any intentions of attacking?"

"No… Wishes to talk." Sona nodded and made a mental note to lighten Reya's workload in the coming week. "Getting… Closer to an identity. Need more time…"

"Momo-san, drop the barrier, I'll talk with the stranger."

"Kaichou!" Came several worried shouts.

"Kaichou, are you sure?"

"I'm sure Momo-san. We can't proceed without dialogue, drop the barrier."

"Understood, Kaichou." The barrier around them immediately dispersed into motes of magical energy before fading into the atmosphere. Sona walked forward, channeling her lessons in nobility from childhood with every step. She stopped halfway between the man and her group.

"I am Sona Sitri, Heiress of the Sitri Clan. I ask of you, identify yourself."

[-]

 **ETA  
00:00:00 (HH:MM:SS)**

After an eternity—according to Lysanna's faulty metric—the clock final reached zero. The first thing to enter their field of view from hundreds of meters away was surprisingly: Koneko Toujou and Reya Kusaka. Then the group of Stray Devils, and finally, Sona Sitri and the rest of her Peerage. There was also that barrier that also kept the trio in, but they weren't really worried about that.

 _"Bullshit. I call bullshit!"_

 _"I call shenanigans, I bet Gaia is behind this."_

 ***Gasp*  
How could you accuse me of such a thing!?  
I mean, you're right!  
But how dare you accuse me!**

 _"Oh don't act like you're not in the wrong, I bet you're totally amused."_

 _"Ugh. We were set up."_

 **Yes, I am, and yes I did!  
Don't be so dramatic, this is all for your own good!**

 _"Can we just kill the Strays and leave? I just bled my heart out about Reya not even an hour ago, and here she is an hour later. This sort of timing is going to give me a heart attack."_

 _"You don't have a heart right now, man."_

 _"Shush. Don't bring your girl-logic here, I'm trying to not panic."_

 **Nah!  
You're not allowed to leave because I said so.  
If you really need a reason:  
Something, something…  
Gameplay and Story Segregation plus But Thou Must!**

 _"Did you seriously just use TV Tropes to_ explain _your reasoning?"_

 **Pulled them from your memories!  
Seemed pretty fitting to me.  
Just treat this whole thing like a cut-scene!**

 _"Okay."_

 **"Okay"?  
That's it?  
No proclamations of unfairness or unjustness?**

 _"Nah!"_

 **Ahaha!  
You're catching on!  
But you still have to go through with everything here.**

 _"Damn. Well, we tried."_

 _"Aye, 'twas a good attempt."_

 _"What's going on with the others? I can hear some cackling going on."_

The sensor field centered on Simo expanded to three hundred meters in radius. All that could be seen within the field filtered into the minds of the trio. The two groups were having a bit of a standoff. The twelve Strays were off to the trio's left, each one uglier than the last. To the right was Sona's group, ready to fight at a moment's notice.

 _"Might as well make the shot now Charles."_

 _"Yeah, we haven't actually tested the accuracy on this thing… Best we don't take any chances with that."_

Charles agreed. He focused on the intent-based targeting system. A second later and all twelve Strays were lit up with red reticles visible only to the trio.

 _"Firing in three, two, one—."_

A finger depressed Simo's trigger. At the end of the barrel three concentric magic circles appeared and an instant later, soundless beams of light scythed forwards through the forest. The white lights avoided the trees entirely and found purchase in their intended targets. Unfortunately, the payload wasn't enough to eliminate some of the sturdier targets. Charles, with decades of practice with similar types of weapons, quickly ejected the spent mana crystal, loaded another one, and fired a second shot. This time, all targets were vaporized.

 _"Test successful, works like a charm."_

 _"That is one sexy gun!"_

 _"Needs to be loaded with higher quality mana crystals… Then again, maybe it'd be better to stick with lower quality crystals? To give enemies a chance at fighting back?"_

 _"Eh, we can talk about it later. We still have the next bit to take care of."_

 _"Oh. Right."_

 **Quest Complete — These Strays Ain't Goin' Home  
Wow. Overkill much? **

**Reward: +1000 EXP, A Reunion**

The trio ignored the windows that appeared, the one that told them their first quest was complete and the other that informed them that the gained two levels. They instead focused on the remaining group. They watched as Sona reorganized them, forming a defensive centered around herself and Reya. Just before they were surrounded by another barrier, the trio received another system message in their view.

 **Warning! Mental Probe detected!  
You ain't allowed to do anything about it though, Gaia says so.**

 _"Of course she does."_

 _"So one of them is a mind reader or something? That's not in your memory Charles."_

 _"Discrepancies between real life and fiction as usual. Though they do have access to memory wiping and minor hypnosis, so I suppose getting our mind read is not that much of a stretch."_

 _"Let's figure out which one of them is it!"_

One of the trio slotted in the skill **Observation** , which was then followed by a bevy of information windows regarding all of them. A little _too_ much information, if you had to ask the trio.

 _"These things include their fetishes! Why would we need to know that? It's not like we're going to be using that kind of information."_

 _"Whoa. He seriously wants to impregnate Sona? What kind of dream is that? Kind of messed up if you ask me."_

 _"Focus you two, we're trying to identify the mind reader, not air out their dirty laundry. Ah… Found the mind reader. It's… Should've expected that, really."_

 _"Who is it? Reya!?"_

 _"Seriously? I wonder if she can hear what we're saying right now… Hello! I'm Lysanna! Your new Queen!"_

 _"Guh, not in our mindscape, please. Well, shall we approach them you two?"_

 _"Not like we have a choice."_

 _"Of course not, I was just asking so as to not be rude."_

Charles forced their body up, while strapping Simo to their back, cancelling the boons from **Forest Camouflage** and **Invisible Nature**. As soon as those two skills were cancelled, eyes were immediately focused in their general direction. Ignoring that, Charles walked towards them at a calm pace. It took him a little over half a minute to come close to the barrier that enclosed them. He stopped a distance away, so as to not alert them.

 _"Reya… She looks like she's in pain."_

 _"Probably from trying to tap into our mind. I wonder if she's in pain due to some kind of natural resistance we have."_

 _"That sucks, we should give her a gift after this all blows over."_

 _"Agreed."_

After what seemed to be a several seconds of deliberation between the members of the group, the barrier dissolved into pretty motes of light that gradually faded away. Sona walked forward, her eyes on their eyes. She stopped half way between the trio and the rest of her group, exuding the aura of a noblewoman. Or someone who was _totally_ in control of the situation and knew it. The trio kind of sucked at reading auras.

"I am Sona Sitri, Heiress of the Sitri Clan. I ask of you, identify yourself." Said the raven-haired Devil. Glasses somehow glinting in the shade of the forest for extra authoritative effect.

 _"How do we go about this?"_

 _"Let's go with this…"_

"I go by the name Chadali, a pleasure to meet you, Sona Sitri." Charles replied with a bit of flourish and a half bow.

 _"Chadali? Where'd that come from?"_

 _"The first letters in our names put together in alphabetical order. Kind of sounds right if you ask me."_

 _"It does, doesn't it? Alright! From now on Chadali shall be our name when we use our combined appearance!"_

"Chadali-san, is it?" Sona said slowly, digesting the name. "While I am thankful to you for handling our Stray situation with unprecedented ease, I'd like an explanation as to why you are in Devil territory without permission."

"Fair enough," Chadali assented, "I was commissioned to test the weapon on my back. I was going to test it elsewhere, but the person who commissioned me heard through the grapevine that a group of Strays was making its way to Kuoh. It was a perfect opportunity, if you ask me."

 _"You think she's going to accept that reasoning?"_

 _"It's close enough to the truth, and it hasn't set off Reya yet… What is she looking for anyway?"_

 _"Hell if I know."_

"I see. It's an excellent weapon, by the way… Does your commissioner have any plans of selling the weapon or its designs?" Well, that's a surprise, the trio thought. It was also pretty pragmatic. They approved.

"I'll have to get in touch with them to ask. They'll want to hear if the thing actually worked before considering any offers."

Sona sighed, "Right. I only ask that you put forward the Sitri name once plans are finalized."

"I can do that. If there's nothing else?" Sona shook her head, "Excellent, well, it was nice meeting you Miss Sona. I hope we can see each other again in the near future."

 _"I think we're in the clear."_

 _"No we're not… Just watch."_

Chadali turned away from Sona and walked into the forest. Before he could vanish from view however, a voice called out to them. Specifically, Reya's hoarse voice. "Wait! What have you done to Takahashi-san… You, you've killed him? I don't… I don't understand, it's all so confusing… What are you…?"

 _"Oh hell."_

 _"Told you so."_

 **Hahahaha.  
This is great!**

 _"Shut up Gaia! What is Reya talking about anyway? When did we kill Daichi?"_

 _"Lethal sparring back in Erinn, remember?"_

 _"Oh… Yeah, those are kind of hard to explain away. So how about we don't explain it?"_

 _"Are you crazy, woman? Can you not read the atmosphere? They're ready to attack!"_

Daichi was correct. As soon as Reya said those words, everyone save for her flared out their auras menacingly. Sona looked especially apoplectic.

 _"Now, now. Hear me out my brothers. We are an unbelievable existence and there's no way we can come up with a convincing reason as to why there's three of us in one body, and why Daichi is a part of this thing we have. So, we don't explain jack shit. They won't believe us because we're already being suspected for murdering Daichi… Which is only half true."_

 _"Oi."_

 _"Anyway! Reya seems to be trying to figure out what we are and is probably sifting through the entirety of our memories to do so. Why don't we have some fun while we wait for her to work it out!"_

 _"Your notion of fun is terrible sometimes. But if you're so sure…"_

"My Bishop appears to believe that you have murdered one of my students, Chadali-san… Care to explain what she means by this?" It was incredibly scary how well Sona was able to pull off calm fury.

"What's there to explain?" Chadali flippantly replied. "Got a job to kill a kid, did just that. Another paycheck in the bank."

"Wrong answer." And then there was nothing but water. Chadali was blasted into several trees with a dragon made of water, though it didn't do much to damage him. Seeing that Chadali was unharmed from the initial strike, the rest were galvanized into attacking. They had their orders, "Maim, but do not kill."

Reya on the other hand, was getting closer to figuring out the enigma behind Chadali. If she were in a better state of mind, she would have realized that blurting out what she did was one of the worst possible things to say. Then again, hindsight is always twenty-twenty.

 _"Well, now that we're soaking wet and surrounded by vengeful teens, how do we handle this?"_

 _"Dodge, dodge, and dodge."_

 _"Sounds good to me."_

The fight, if it could be called that, was an exercise in futility. There was nothing available to Sona's Peerage—plus Koneko—that could harm Chadali, not even his own strength. Because he did not strike out at all, they couldn't use Tsubaki's Sacred Gear, Mirror Alice, to return twice the damage back at him. Not even Gen's Absorption Line was able to help them. The moment one of his lines connected to Chadali, Gen was instantly knocked out by a surge of excess energy.

The rest were also having a difficult time.

Tsubasa's and Koneko's strikes were blocked with ease or were sometimes pushed aside in such a way that the two girls were _attacking_ each other. Tsubaki's and Tomoe's bladed weapons never found purchase on Chadali's body. They too had to deal with suddenly being redirected into each other's strikes, even after they all figured out that they shouldn't attack together. After Sona's first attack, magic from then on was disabled, completely shutting down both Sona and Momo. They had very little in the way of martial arts—a problem that Sona would correct in the future—and so they had to retreat from the fight with Gen and Ruruko in tow.

"Had enough yet?" Chadali casually asked after ten minutes or so of dodging and not being very injured. The others, still rightly incensed, were either too exhausted or had no options to make a move on Chadali.

"Why haven't you attacked us?" Sona replied with another question. The anger from earlier gave way to confusion. The entire situation was weird. Just earlier today she listened to Reya's concerns about one Daichi Takahashi, then appears an apparent mercenary who is the supposed killer of said Daichi. Then said killer manages to provoke her into attack him—like it did any good—even though Sona would _never_ make a move unless she had enough information, even if she was emotionally compromised. It was as though _someone_ made her react the way she did, and it certainly wasn't her Bishop.

"It was their way of having fun," Answered Reya. The migraines she was suffering from were gone, as if they never happened. She was energized, as if she came across some enlightening fact and wanted to share it with everyone. "Am I right, Charles-san, Lisa-san… Daichi-san?"

* * *

 **A/N: Almost late on this one because I got sick. I also think I have some sort of attention deficit because it took me all of 11/19 to write this out. The last 2/3's of this chapter were planned (and I'm surprised it took me this long to remember that I could plan shit out), but the ending is not very strong I think. It does get where I (and Gaia) wanted the plot to get to. Koneko was not a part of my initial chapter plans, but she did appear due to the logical consequence of using the best sensors to track down a rogue group. Rias and the rest of her Peerage are still back in Kuoh as the second line of defense. I'm not sure if I implied that well enough in the chapter. If I haven't then I'll make that clear in the next one, where they will appear.**

 **I also don't like the first third of this chapter (Will there ever be a time where I'm satisfied with my writing? Who knows), probably 'cause of its unplanned nature. But I'm also hoping that it adds a little more to the solidarity that revolves around the trio.**

 **By the way, I am shite at writing combat scenes. Though I don't know if that's a fair assessment in this case. The Trio are well above Sona's group's level. I don't know how to make the disparity between combat levels interesting. We'll have to see how I handle conflict between two parties of similar/identical levels.**

 **There's only one review I'll be replying in-depth to, and that goes to CyberIona:**

 **I appreciate you reviewing my story, and hope you stay for the ride despite all its flaws. Allow me to address your points one by one as they appear in order!**  
 **Your bit about the abilities and the like. I completely agree with it, if you compare the new content with the old, you'll find that I no longer inundate my text with obtuse skill descriptions at all. Part of the reason why I am rewriting this story is to get rid of those skill descriptions. I realized that it was basically padding, and didn't really add to the story. It just created more crap for me to keep track of (I have a spreadsheet, ugh) and that got in the way of story writing. So I did away with it. Stats are still a work in progress, and thankfully doesn't need to be addressed for a while yet.**

 **I honestly think you should have read the Prologue. It was written to give readers who don't know about Mabinogi (like you, actually) an idea of what it's like. It was also to establish several important things: 1) How the Milletian came into existence. 2) Summarize the life of the Milletian, and establish that the Milletian has grown and acquired power throughout their life (it also is a summary of the main storyline in Mabinogi up to a certain point, though clearly lacking details). 3) Show the end result of a final battle that is in part responsible for why the Milletian ends up in Daichi's world. 4) Show the Milletian's personality and how they treat certain things (like death for example). There might be more, I don't know. But my point is, read everything!**

 **Your next point about DxD's tone and atmosphere. You say that I 'need' to maintain it. I say, that's your opinion and I can respect that. I'm of the opinion that you like the original's tone, but I don't. Because it obscures a lot of the shit that is wrong with that world, and I'm writing this story in part to acknowledge and expand on those elements. I won't claim to say that I'm injecting a touch of realism into DxD, but I can certainly try. And with you saying that certain things will ruin DxD's characters. I disagree. Quite frankly, a lot of DxD's characters are flat or one-dimensional (and this is probably because a lot of DxD is narrated through Issei's POV). If I don't overdo it, then I think that anything I add to them makes them more... Personable.**

 **The point about Sona and Rias. That's uh... You're right in that I may have may their relationship a little too antagonistic in the old chapters, that's definitely going to be worked on in future chapters. Still, even if they're childhood friends, that doesn't mean they are friends _now_. If you'll stick around in the future, you'll get to see what I mean by saying that.**

 **And now that last point about "Rias letting Issei get killed etc". It doesn't matter if it's fanon, this story is fanfiction! Sometimes fanon elements are better to incorporate into fanfiction because they are plainly better or match the direction that the writer is trying to take their story in. And you have to remember that not all writers will explicitly follow canon.**

 **That's all I have to say. To everyone else, thanks for reading! And please, review!**


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